New Ride (Re-Written version)
by lllBluebirdlll
Summary: (Sequel to the re-written version of "New Life")Two years have gone by since that tragic night that changed so much for FLAG, after much work things seem to go back to normal until a new threat comes to light with the aid of an old enemy that threatens to break the team once more and the kidnapping of one of their members only pushes the team to act fast and face a dangerous enemy.
1. Chapter 1

**And finally it's here, the last part of the three part series (1. New Start - 2. New Life -** **3\. New Ride** **) took me longer than expected but I actually have this whole story finished already. will be posting chapters weekly either on Monday or Tuesday with the only exception being today of course.**

 **before this starts I will add a shameless plug for my DA (Deviant art) account in which I have several KR related works that are extracts from scenes on the two previous stories to this one from selected chapters. if you go to the Deviant art page you can simply search for** lllbluebirdlll **on the search bar and it should take you directly to my work 3 (can't post a link here since FanFiction does not allow it so RIP that)**

 **Without further distractions here is the first chapter of the third and last part of the re-written version for this trilogy, enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter one**

 **Back on track**

The digital speedometer on the Mustang's HUD climbed past the 250 Km/h mark, the long straight of the training track was quickly coming to an end and just as the bend started the car did a clean drift to the right around it before once again drifting to the left to go around a second corner; up ahead there would be a barrier she would have to jump over followed by another bend and another straight section through which she would have to zigzag around some cones before finally reaching the finish line.

Expertly going through the rest of the course with ease the car came to a hard stop at the finish line just inches from the man standing there, as the high powered engine's sound lowered down to an idle growl after the rush from going around the track the driver's door opened and a tall, dark haired woman climbed out.

Katherine walked over to her dad, closing her jacket and tucking her hands on the pockets "so, how did we do?"

"well you are improving"

"It's not just me, I mean sure I have been getting better at driving like this but it's mostly KIRA" at the mention of her name the AI rolled forwards until she bumped against the back of Kate's leg, in response her driver placed down a hand over the warm metal "she's the one who's been training constantly, who knows, maybe she'll even manage to beat KITT's time"

"that is the idea…" letting out a sigh he looked around the small clearing they had leveled out for such training sessions before looking back down to his daughter "you two go back inside, done enough training for one day"

"we have to, the test is in just a few days and you know how 'He' got after…you know…"

"I know, I've talked to him about it but he's very stubborn"

"at least he got that from you"

slightly amused at her joke he gave out a small smile as Katherine got back inside the Mustang, taking off a minute later and heading for the tunnel that would be leading her back to the main base.

KIRA had been constantly improving as time went on, training with Katherine as much as she had really had more advantages than anyone could tell. KITT himself had witnessed that change, he saw how the bond she shared with her driver shared became stronger with each passing month. Lately he had been more observant of their training sessions and even through a simple video feed he could tell when they were training that now they could reach a certain point in which they were capable of acting like one; one knew that the other wanted to do and vice versa, it was amazing and KITT was immensely proud of the black and blue Mustang's massive improvements.

After the chaos that had happened just over two years ago KIRA could say that things had changed all around the base for the better, losing KIFT had been hard to digest for many of her closest friends but even though it had taken her a while to finally be able to wrap her processor around the concept she had to say that despite what it was it had really pushed forward some new advancements around the place; just over a month after that the main group of research and development had set themselves to work on new tech to fight against any possible threats on the same level as KARR after seeing what he had been able to do to the three of them, hell, at one point it really had been the three of them against him and they were so close to losing…

Speaking of changes…the AI had also noticed some subtle changes on some of her friends, the two most prominent though came from Sarah and KITT, it was only logical since they were the two closest to KIFT besides her. It was still surprising to her how humans could mask their true emotions so well, she had seen it from her driver's mother on multiple occasions the few times the two had gone on missions on their own after the incident, she was completely professional when speaking to the two of them but by now she could tell that was just her own training kicking in, she knew Kate had seen it too but both knew better than to press on the matter with her; KITT…well his change had been more apparent, to everyone really, he had grown quieter and on occasions overly paranoid whenever she happened to get injured in some way no matter how small and he was still reluctant whenever they wanted to send her on a mission that was further away from base…that was actually the main reason why her and Kate had to go through this 'test' thing to see if they could beat KITT's time on the course set on the day of the test, if they did then that would be just enough proof for everyone that they could handle themselves just fine.

Three days later Kate found herself getting some breakfast in the main cafeteria in the early morning hours, her test would be taking place in just a few hours and for some reason she woke up now unable to go back to sleep, knowing this she just got changed into a dark blue top and jeans before heading out to grab a bite. Sitting down alone browsing her phone while drinking a fruit smoothie she absentmindedly flipped through the pages of the digital manual she had before coming back to reality with the sound of footsteps close behind her.

"Matt? What are you doing awake so early?"

"Good morning, and I was about to ask you the same question"

"woke up, couldn't go back to sleep, you?"

"I need to check over the two AIs to make sure they're working under optimal standards for the tests"

"right, forgot you'd been made lead tech in charge of the AIs, how is that going along?"

"really good so far, I mean that's what I was hoping to get to from the moment I got here so…yeah" he sat down next to Kate "what are you doing?"

"Going over KIRA's commands and codes for the test"

"haven't you used those same commands before? Several times?"

"I have but…" she took a deep breath turning off her phone "I just don't want to mess this up, I shouldn't be this nervous about it KIRA and I have gone through way worse"

"you're overthinking things too much, relax, I know you two will do just fine' I've see you two train before and this test will go no differently than any other session you've had with her"

She lightly glanced over to Matt with a light smile before putting her phone away and standing up "have you gone over to them?"

"yeah, KITT's just keeping himself busy while the diagnostics program is running, KIRA's still on her recharge mode and considering the situation I thought it was better to leave her"

"got a few extra minutes"

"pretty much"

"let's go, if you want to get that diagnostics run done in time we better get started"

The two left the cafeteria and headed over to the large main chamber with the two AIs, KITT greeted the two and as Matt went over to him and check on the diagnostic's results Kate walked over to the black and blue Mustang, lightly knocking on her hood above the scanner

"Knock knock, anyone home?"

a faint hum came from the car as the computer booted back up, bringing the scarlet scanner to life, after a second came the reply from the AI "Good morning Kate"

"morning KIRA, would you mind opening your hood so Matt can plug you in for a diagnostics check?"

"not at all" the car's hood got unlocked with an audible click and Matt walked over to plug in the diagnostics computer on the AI, standing by as the results started to go through and making sure everything was working at optimum standards; it only took a few minutes and the results were just as expected, nothing seemed to be wrong and the two AIs were as ready as they could be for the test.

Just as Kate went over to close KIRA's hood Mike and Sarah walked in the room

"you're up early"

Katherine turned around to see her mother walking towards her "wanted to get ready in time"

"I see, everything's in working order I hope"

"Matt just finished checking over her and KITT, they're both ready"

"good to hear" she turned to look at the AI besides her "KIRA I'm going to need you to go around the back to the training grounds, there's a few things that need to get tweaked before we start" she looked over to the Mustang across the room "You too KITT, Sydney's already waiting for you two with a group of techs, Kate and I will meet you two out there in a few minutes"

Both AIs obeyed and Kate gave the blue striped Mustang a pat on her hood before walking off after Sarah, the platforms the cars stood on turned around and both went through the tunnel that leaded out of the complex.

As Kate and her mother walked through the complex to get to the exit that would take them to the training grounds Sarah explained to her what her and KIRA would be doing before KIRA went through another test, when the driver questioned her about what the other test was she simply answered saying that she would see it soon enough. Minutes later the two went out into the training grounds where some of the techs directly in charge of the AIs, amongst them were Matt and Sydney, making sure that the few things that had been fitted to both Mustangs were properly installed and would cause no issues; Mike was standing by Billy and Zoe as they both held tablets with a direct uplink to the AIs' systems to see how they performed during the course that had been set.

As the last few things were set on KIRA KITT moved over to the starting line of the course, waiting for the go signal so he could set the time to beat, as soon as the tech next to him gave him the all clear he took off into the track with squealing tires.

Expertly maneuvering through the bends and obstacles the experienced AI went through it with speed and ease, just barely grazing the cones on the tighter bends and crossing the finish line in just over a minute. Katherine stood leaning against KIRA just next to the starting line looking worriedly at the midnight black Mustang as it went over to park behind them and next to her parents, with a sigh she dropped down inside the car and took a hold of the wheel.

"You are worried?"

she looked down at the AI's voice modulator "Little bit…should I not be?"

"you have driven with me through worse"

"yeah but I didn't have a time limit over my head before, plus this will probably decide whether or not we're able to go out in missions again"

"I'm sure you will do just fine"

the driver couldn't help but smile at the car's confidence in her before turning on the engine and lining up at the start.

With the butterflies of anticipation boiling up and white knuckles gripping the steering wheel Katherine had a clean take off as soon as the signal was given, not even struggling to put the car's power down to the rear tires, practically dancing around the corners smoothly and dodging every obstacle almost perfectly she accidentally slid further to a side on the last turn before pressing down on the accelerator harder on the final straight line to the finish where she finally threw the car on a sideways drift to stop if after crossing the line. Taking a deep breath as she let go of the wheel she asked the AI to display their time on the screen, closing her eyes and expecting the worse she released a breath she didn't know had been held in her lungs after realizing that the time had only been over a second slower than KITT's.

Getting out of the car and walking over to Billy, Zoe and her parents where they informed her that her breaking, acceleration and maneuverability had been quite good with the exception of the last little slip she had. All in all she had passed the test with flying colors but there was still the second test that her mom had told her about of which she still knew nothing about.

Walking over to her she missed the couple techs that walked over to the AIs, opening their ammo compartments they loaded it with some small sphere-shaped rounds.

"Okay, now, mind telling me what the second test we're going to be doing is?"

Sarah didn't remove her gaze from the tablet she was holding "you are done, KIRA isn't"

"What do you mean?"

"There are things that she must be able to do without you since there will be times you two will be separated, because of…recent events she is required to pass this test before you two can go out on your own"

"And what is this 'test' then?"

"KIRA will basically have to beat KITT in a…sparring match, so to speak"

"What?, how is that even going to be a thing?"

"We've loaded their guns with specialized ammo that they will be using, the match will be divided in three parts that will stop as soon as one of them manages to land a physical hit on the other"

"And you didn't think of telling me about it ahead of time?"

"Not like I could"

"KIRA doesn't know?"

"Not before just now"

The two AIs moved over to opposite sides of the training grounds, facing each other for the few seconds before the go signal was given. With squealing tires the cars drove towards each other with guns at the ready, KIRA dove to a side as soon as KITT opened fire and stained the pavement where she had just been with red paint; sliding next to him she shot her own weapon and left a few splotches of blue paint on the deep black surface of the other Mustang before he turned around and drove straight for her while shooting as she moved away, this time leaving part of the black and blue Mustang's side stained with red. A few runs like these went between the two before finally KITT managed to push on KIRA's right rear end, sending her spinning and ending the first round.

KIRA went over to stand across the area from KITT where she thought of more ways to try and get a hit on him, she couldn't do the same she had just done since he would easily avoid her like before…she needed to find a way to trick him somehow.

The two were giver the green light and once again they drove towards each other, after some maneuvers KIRA aimed her gun towards KITT slightly at an angle at which she knew it would make him turn towards her and if she was lucky enough it would distract him enough for her to make a move; KITT veered to the left as KIRA shot over to his right while driving to the left to where she hoped the midnight black Mustang would turn towards, as she had hoped the small distraction was enough to allow her to get close enough to hit him square on his side and getting the second round to an end.

One last time the two Mustangs lined up across from each other and took off when the signal was given, KIRA tried her same technique again but this time KITT predicted her movements and sent a torrent of bullets her way, staining part of her front end in bright red paint. From a side Katherine stood with her arms crossed looking nervously at the ongoing match, both cars had a good amount of paint staining their normally deep black finish that combined with the current score meant that they were pretty much even.

As the two Mustangs circled each other in search of an opening KIRA boosted herself towards KITT using her turbo boost to gain speed at an increased rate in hopes of getting a chance at hitting him.

KITT saw her maneuver coming and used his own turbo boost to jump just high enough to barely graze her roof. Distracted, the black and blue Mustang took a second too late to start breaking and ended up accidentally drifting, by the time she had stopped with a wall against her rear bumper KITT was already standing just mere inches in front of her with the gun spinning and aiming straight at her, with a light flash of his scanner KITT folded back his gun and the match was ended there. Katherine walked past the midnight black Mustang as he backed off to go over to Sarah and the other techs, making her way over to KIRA.

The bright scarlet red scanner tracked back and forth slowly and the driver could tell how the AI was ever so slightly slinking down as she too put away her gun; taking a rag from one of her pockets she wiped off some of the red paint that had stained part of her scanner before climbing inside the car.

"I'm sorry Katherine…"

she toyed with the rag on her hands "There's nothing to be sorry about, you did what you could"

"I failed the test, apparently 'my best' is still not enough"

"KITT has years of experience over you plus numerous fights against…'Him' so don't you dare think that because you couldn't beat him now that you're not good enough yet"

"You're not upset?"

"Why would I be?"

"We will probably not be allowed to leave on missions because of me failing this test"

"Maybe, maybe not"

"What do you mean?"

"Whether or not we go out doesn't fully depend on if you beat KITT or not. From what mom told me the test was to beat yourself, not KITT; if they had been comparing you to KITT it would've been unfair since he has an advantage of years of experience over you"

"So we do still have the possibility of being allowed to go out again?"

"Yeah, now let's go get you cleaned up while they discuss this issue"

Kate and KIRA drove back into the building and down to the maintenance bay where Katherine would be able to clean the paint off of the Mustang, Sarah watched them until they disappeared inside the tunnel before turning to Billy and Zoe to her right.

"Okay, how's the data you gathered?"

Billy was the first to speak "Her core processing speed was quite impressive and there was no overload or unnecessary systems running either"

Zoe moved over to be closer to Sarah, turning her tablet so she could see it "There was also no sudden spikes on her systems other than the one near the end of the test when she spun off but that's just understandable since she would need to bring more processing power to correct an unexpected move" she spoke as she sowed the scientist the several graphs displaying the AI's stats.

"Sounds good, you two go back down and store this data, give it a once-over just in case" both nodded and started to walk off, Sarah turned to her left to Matt and Sydney "Matt do you think you can go and take whatever was left of the paint ammo from KIRA? I'll send KITT your way in a bit to do the same"

"Of course"

"Great" she looked at Sydney as Matt walked off "could you call a team up here to get the place cleaned up?"

"Already called them, should be here in just a few more minutes"

"Perfect, you're free to go then"

As the few remaining techs walked away Sarah looked at the Mustang that remained just sitting quietly next to her, scanner tracking calmly, making a light motion with her head she signaled for him to followed her as she walked off towards the center of the area with the Mustang slowly driving besides her, blue paint staining part of his sides and rear end.

"So…"

"So?"

"Your thoughts KITT"

"Well…she did manage to come up with a mostly successful strategy and she did not overwork her systems despite the situation, it was a very good display of what her training so far has managed to do"

"But we already knew that" she stopped, turning to look directly at the bright ruby red scanner "Billy and Zoe have the raw data; the results from the test are there and they are quite good but I want to know what you think, not you as the super advanced, calculating AI that you are but as the sentient being you've become. What are your thoughts on today's test?"

the scanner tracked back and forth twice before there was an answer from the Mustang. "She displayed exceptional abilities and ability to react accordingly under pressure, that is a very good advantage and even though I was the one who won the match she managed to avoid most of my shots while…as you can see-" he slightly turned to show the good amount of blue paint on his side "-she managed to land most of hers on me"

Sarah kneeled down, looking directly at the AI "But?"

A sigh escaped through his vents in a light cloud of warm air due to the low temperature, there was a second of silence before he spoke "Even though the fact that she has very good accuracy when using her guns I'm afraid that it would be of no use if she doesn't get better at dodging physical hits, those tend to be stronger than just bullets and...if the circumstances present themselves, we know how bad that could end" Sarah looked down, fully aware of what the car meant. KITT opened his passenger's door then, an invitation for the tech to climb inside and get out of the cold.

Sarah walked around the car and dropped inside the seat, the car's interior quickly heating up to a more comfortable temperature. The red dot on the AI's voice modulator looked in her direction expectantly, she sighed "If it was up to me I would've said that they needed more time, they're a good team and the bond they have formed throughout the years is impressive, it would even seem like that ordeal that we had a little over two years ago actually made their bond stronger" she looked down "and that's what scares me the most...KITT if anything were to happen to KIRA…I don't want Kate to go through that, or even you, not again"

"As much as I hate to say this Sarah we both know that we cannot shield them from certain situations forever and believe me when I say that if it were possible even I would like to keep KIRA from these dangers but as much as we want it to be like that this is not something we can intervene with. Sooner or later it will be time to let them go back to work on their own and if the information we've been gathering for the past months is true then-"

"I know KITT…I know." Looking out the window at the cloudy sky and the forest below she took a deep breath "If that is the case then I guess we don't really have a choice, at least we know that they both are as ready as they could be"

"Sarah…" the tech looked back at the AI's voice modulator "Should it come to that I want you to know that I will do anything to keep them safe…You have my word"

shortly after that the two drove back inside the complex, KITT dropped Sarah at the main chamber before backing out and heading to the maintenance bay to get the blue paint cleaned off of his surface. By the time he arrived Kate was already drying off the Black and blue Mustang as traces of the red paint colored some of the water that remained on the floor, Matthew was sitting off to a side talking with her and as KITT parked next to the three of them in the second cleaning platform they greeted him.

Kate dropped the rag she was using and stood in front of the midnight black Mustang "I take It you've already spoken with my mother"

"I have"

"And?"

"I am not allowed to reveal anything at the moment but I will tell you that whatever the result may be you will be informed about it later this day"

"hmm…fine I guess" she walked back to KIRA then, continuing to dry off the water from her side. There was silence in the room before Matt and Kate broke off in another conversation and KITT turned to his internal link with KRIA

"You did really good during your test"

"Did I? I still didn't manage to beat you on it even though I heard you talking to Sarah saying that you were going to 'go easy'"

"I did speak to her about that, but whether or not I actually went easy on my maneuvers is different"

there was a light flash of the scarlet red scanner in realization "You weren't actually going easy?"

"I was not, what I did back there would've been the same if I were to be facing any possible threat…or at least very close to it. My point is that you really did very good today and after the talk I had with Sarah, despite arguing against my better judgement, the chances of you and Katherine being allowed back in the field are very high"

"Why do you say that you argued against your better judgement?"

there was a moment of silence "KIRA I-"

"earth to KITT…hello?" both AIs turned their attention to the people around them, Kate was standing next to KITT, knocking on his hood

"I'm sorry Katherine, do you need anything?"

"Could you open your ammo compartment for a bit? Matt needs to get the remaining paint ammo out"

"of course" A panel slid up in front of his rear left wheel arch and a compartment appeared, it held the few remaining paint rounds from the test. Matt took them out before doing the same with KIRA and leaving Katherine with the AI, she went over to KITT and started to clean off the paint like she had with KIRA until he too was back to just being his usual deep midnight black.

After that Katherine stayed down there simply spending some time talking with the AIs since it had been a while since she had time to just sit down and chat with them, especially KITT since he had grown rather quiet. After about an hour the three went back out to get to the main chamber where Kate's friends were hanging around their respective stations, the AIs parked on their platforms and settled on doing whatever they did when there was nothing to do as the black and blue Mustang's driver headed for her room where she planned on spending a few hours playing something on her computer or just browsing around the internet in hopes that the time would go faster until Sarah told her and KIRA if they were going to be allowed to go on missions or not.

Fortunately for her it did and before she knew it KIRA called to tell her that Sarah wanted to meet them outside, shutting everything down the AI's driver walked out of her room and headed for the main chamber where she found her parents talking with KITT, both turned to look at her as she entered the room and immediately stopped talking.

She stopped in front of KIRA next to her parents, leaning against the black and blue Mustang with crossed arms "So…?"

Mike glanced as Sarah then, she took a deep breath and looked up from her tablet "After discussing this topic extensively and looking at the pros and cons of it as well as our situation and…after some disagreements, we've decided that you and KIRA will be allowed to go on missions starting next week after we've downloaded a few new programs and protocols into KIRA, you are to remain in contact with base at all times at least for your first few missions and depending on how you do on your assigned mission we will see about assigning you some that are slightly more difficult."

She remained serious and expressionless as she listened to her mother attentively, perfectly concealing the excitement on the inside, she was finally going on proper missions with KIRA; true they had gone out once ages ago but after what happened shortly after that had caused quite the hiatus around base.

For the few following few minutes Mike and Sarah explained to their daughter all that going out on missions would entitle, especially at first; Kate thought that some of the things were just unnecessary precautions but since she was at least going to be able to go out she didn't complain about it and just nodded. Thanking both her parents and KITT she walked off towards her pod to get ready for tomorrow.

KITT explained to KIRA what the new programs that were going to be installed tomorrow morning were and what they did, most of them were simply things that would be liking her stats to be live broadcasted to base, when KIRA asked KITT about it and tried to know the reasons behind it the older AI remained silent, only finally speaking with a dry tone simply saying 'for safety purposes'

The tone he had spoken to her in was enough to keep her from pressing the matter further and instead only turned to settling the programs properly, she knew that ever since that last incident bac at the old SSC he had grown slightly overprotective of her and this reaction only confirmed her suspicions that he was still not entirely into the idea of her and Katherine leaving on their own again. She spoke to Katherine about this that same night and she too agreed that KITT was just trying to keep her safe, unknown to the AI Kate had been in a very long and arduous talk with her mother regarding all the new safety and emergency protocols that were going to be installed on the young AI, during the talk the same thought the black and blue mustang had crossed her mind, thinking that all of these things might be a bit too much but she did not complain to the lead tech about it.

For the remainder of that week the preparations continued, a small bit of extra training was needed for both driver and AI but the two went through them with ease, only proving that they were already as prepared as they could be for whatever could come their way. Near the end of that same week while waiting on approval from their exterior government support group on all the paperwork Katherine sat in the semi-empty main room inside KIRA, her father and KITT had left just over two days ago to handle some last minute issues with the paperwork that had been sent a few days ago, car and driver sat in silence as they watched a movie on the car's HUD since it would most likely be the last time they would be able to do this for a while.

Eventually the silence between the two was broken into a friendly conversation about pretty much anything that crossed their minds until something in the background called the AI's attention.

She paused the movie "Katherine"

"Yeah?"

"I just detected that a copy of one of the complex's core files has been made and downloaded into a portable drive"

"What…where?"

the AI brought up a blueprint of the complex and zoomed in on the lower sections, focusing in a particular room with the infra-red image of a man on a computer, blocking whatever progress he had made the AI displayed on her screen the files that she had detected copies being made of and to her driver's horror they were four tiny files that contained their classified location, communication keys, core specs for the two AIs and intel on their technological advancements.

"KIRA I need a gun, non-lethal"

from the car's glove compartment a tray slid out with a small handgun and a clip of hard rubber bullets "I will be able to give you directions so you reach the room as fast as possible, since I have blocked the computer he will most likely try and exit the complex but just in case you don't manage to catch him I might be able to herd him out one of the exits that leads to the outside where I can intercept him."

"Good, I'm taking the elevator to the lower levels and continue from there" she opened the door and climbed out

"Please be careful Katherine"

Kate ran out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened following the directions the AI was giving her being careful to remain quiet since she did not want to alert whoever had stolen the files of her presence since pressure from getting the computer blocked was most likely causing him to hurry up naturally but if she had the chance she wanted to catch him and get a few answers herself, he was taking very important information about the AIs and she wanted to know why, no one would cause any more harm to those Mustangs if she could help it.

Waving between dark hallways and dimly lit rooms she finally caught a glimpse of the man running around the corner, hurrying after him she finally cornered him as KIRA locked an automatic door at the end of a hallway

"Stop right there!" Kate rose her gun up at the man, who stopped his struggling against the door as he heard her voice "Hand over the drive" Katherine started cautiously walking towards him in the semi-lit hallway as he turned around; he appeared young but he didn't have a face that she had seen before around the complex.

Rising his hands, the guy brought one down behind him, causing the AI's driver to tense up, relaxing only when she saw he was pulling out the drive and not some sort of weapon.

Taking the drive from him she inspected it quickly, gun still aimed at the man "What were you planning to do with these files?"

A small, mocking smile grew on his face as he spoke next, a slight dark hint on his eyes glistening under the low lighting "Just wanted to give them a look on my own"

Able to see through that lie from a mile away Kate gave the man a kick on his side with enough strength to knock him to the ground, still pointing the gun at him on the ground as she took another step closer "There are highly classified files and very sensible information here, who were you planning on giving this drive to?"

Clutching his side he managed to half laugh half cough with a dark smile spreading across his face as he looked up at her "you can't stop this…"

Kate remained in silence for a few seconds, taking a few steps back she told KIRA to call security to their location, to which she answered simply saying that she had already called them and they would reach her location in less than a minute.

Approaching footsteps finally allowed Katherine to relax and lower her gun as a group of armed security men rounded the corner and saw her standing in the hallway, they immediately took the drive from her as two others picked up the man from the floor in front of her and started checking him for any other things he could've taken, the AI's driver leaned against a far wall watching everything unfold before security finally finished and stared to take the man away. As he walked past her he had the same dark glint in his eyes, looking directly at her and stopping he spoke "You're wasting your time with me…you don't even realize"

A wave of dread washed over the woman just as another one of the security guards stopped at her side, leaning in to whisper something in her ear and instantly made her eyes grow wide, causing the man in front of her to smile even more.

Katherine took off towards the stairs to get back to the main chamber, contacting the AI as she did so.

"KIRA!"

"Katherine I just detected one of our company vehicles leave the complex at a high speed"

"KIRA get ready to leave, go attack mode we have to catch up to them, the drive with the files is in that vehicle the man downstairs didn't have it"

"I detected no other heat signatures on the lower levels, are you sure about this?"

"one of the guards examined the drive and it was empty, he said before I took off that I was wasting my time and now I see why"

"If that is the case we must get those files back at all cost before they are transferred to someone else or looked into by anyone with possibly dangerous intents."

"I know, be ready to go I'll be there in a minute"

As the platform the AI stood on started to spin to face the exit for the first time since that fatidic night the black and blue Mustang switched to her attack mode, it had changed since then, a few modifications from the techs had made a few things better for aerodynamics but most of it was still the same one she had made herself back at her last encounter with KARR.

Her electric blue double racing stripes morphed into a single line that ran through her middle starting at her scanner, that had now stretched to become longer and made more pronounced lines on her hood as her normal spoiler rose up and stretched to cover a larger surface area; on her sides another intake folded in place to take in enough air to cool the specialized breaks discs that were sure to be red hot if the situation was dire enough and to top it all off a red glow that matched her scanner emanated from underneath her, completing the menacing look intended for this particular transformation. More people started to pour into the room after the emergency status had been set, Katherine ran in and headed for the AI who immediately opened her door upon seeing her, leaving nothing but dual stripes on the pavement as she took off with a loud growl from her engine that made the glass panels of the entry tunnel and the catwalk above resonate with the same vibrating force.

Driving down the single lane hidden road that they had to take out of the complex car and driver followed the signal from the speeding car that was escaping with the valuable hard drive all the way until they exited the heavily forested area and the signal was lost.

On the map displayed in one of the corners of the car's HUD the blinking red dot that signaled the escaping car suddenly vanished, near a four-way crossroad causing Katherine to instinctively slow down.

"KIRA I need that signal back if we're to find this guy"

"I am currently working on getting it back but it would appear that whoever was driving that car was able to activate a very sophisticated shield that is perfectly concealing his signature"

"Well contact HQ and tell them about it, they must be able to do something"

"I already have, they are having the same problem I do and are not able to locate the vehicle, at least for now"

"great…"

Katherine kept driving until they reached the crossroad at which they had lost the signal, there were no lights other than those of the AI and the calmness of the night only made it look like nothing had happened, stopping and trying to think in which direction the car could've gone Kate let go of the wheel and leaned back on her seat.

"KIRA are you able to track the tire threads?"

"Our company vehicles have one of the most popular tire brands in the country, it would be impossible to track one specific set from all the others that overlap on it"

"How about monitoring the street cameras on each road?, we have to be able to see the car through them"

"I have been watching surveillance cameras on all three streets but I have not detected the company vehicle in any of them"

"that's impossible, it couldn't have just diapered"

"I have an incoming chat line from HQ, it's Sarah, shall I put it on screen?"

"Put it up"

A second later the angry face of Sarah appeared on the screen, she was in the main control room and Katherine could see some of her friends working on their stations behind her.

"Katherine Knight what do you think you're doing?"

"I was trying to prevent a very important hard drive from getting stolen but the signal of the car we were following disappeared"

"You know you were not supposed to go out on missions just yet, you got approved but you still need certain permissions before you can take off like that"

"I know, if I had waited for you or anyone else with high enough clearance to give me permission to go then we wouldn't even be here right now and the guy would've gotten away"

"But they got away anyway didn't they" she closed her eyes and took a deep breath "Where are you right now?"

"At the crossroads directly down from the road that leads to the complex, here's where we lost the signal"

"Have you tried tracking it some other way?"

"We have, nothing we can do will give us a certain path to take after it and the car hasn't shown up in any of the cameras on any of the three roads"

"If whoever did it was smart enough to steal the files directly from under our noses without getting caught they he probably had this planed, most likely switched cars somewhere with no cameras"

"If that's the case then they could be anywhere right now…"

"Come back, we can figure something out from here"

"Have you told Dad about this?"

"him and KITT are on their way back as we speak, they should arrive by tomorrow morning considering the time"

"Okay, we'll be there in a few minutes"

The chat line was closed and KIRA drove the two of them back to base, getting back into her normal mode as she did so. One back Kate explained to her mother and friends what had happened since KIRA detected the files being copied, Sarah told her that the guy was already under interrogation but so far they hadn't been able to get anything out from him whoever he worked for and however he managed to infiltrate the complex would look like they would remain a mystery, at least for the time being. Since the guy wasn't being of any help Sarah and the other techs had to take on a different approach, there was no time to be wasted, they needed to get that drive back at all costs…


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two**

 **Infiltrated**

It wasn't until two days after the drive was stolen that they got word from an outside source that it had been schedules for an exchanged somewhere, the man that now had it in his possession was currently traveling back to where he had a secluded research facility somewhere further down south. Upon gaining this knowledge and after a long discussion with Michael Sarah agreed that this would be a mission that Katherine should take, she had been the one to find the man stealing the files and track them down as far as they could so it seemed logical that she was the one to take it; reluctantly but seeing the logic in his mind she brought this up to her daughter who gladly took the case and immediately headed to get her things ready for the flight to come.

The day after receiving the news early in the morning Katherine was in the abandoned airport about an hour from the base where her and KIRA used to train, the foundation's AC-130 was going to touch down and slow just enough to allow KIRA to enter the cargo bay where Matt would be waiting and both of them would secure the Mustang for the flight. In any other circumstances they would've just driven down to where they needed to be but since this was a special case this had to be done in a quick and more efficient way and driving down would take longer than it would by plane.

KIRA sat at the edge of the runway, thinking about what could've possibly happened that allowed the guy that stole the files to somehow transfer them directly to someone without her even knowing, and how did whoever he transferred them to dropped from her sensors like nothing she'd ever seen before at that crossroad?

The AI continued her musings until a knocking on her hood brought her attention back outside to Kate, who had been sitting on the ground leaning against her side; she had stood up to the sound of distant rumbling of approaching plane engines.

"Plane's here"

the Mustang starter her engine with a healthy growl "you might want to climb up now since we have to gather some speed before the plane touches down If we want to successfully board it"

"You think you can take care of boarding the plane?"

"Of course"

The young driver climbed in the car and was sure to keep her feet and hands away from the pedals and steering wheel as the sound of plane's engines grew closer.

Before she knew it KIRA was starting to drive down the runway picking up speed fast, with the plane's shadow already ahead of them the frontal landing gear just came into view not even two meters above the moving car, followed by an opening ramp five meters ahead of them right after the rear landing gear touched down.

When the cargo door was fully open and scraping against the pavement the Mustang pressed harder down on the accelerator and caught up to the ramp, getting inside the plane's cargo bay and stopping in place as Matthew moved to the back of the bay to pull the lever that closed the door, making the quickly shrinking runway disappear as they gained altitude once again.

Katherine thanked the AI as she climbed down, closing the car's door before greeting Matt.

"So, how was your tech convention?"

"Very interesting actually, might be able to put some of the things I saw there to good use here"

Kate walked around the back of the car and kneeled down to start securing KIRA to the plane, from across the room Matt stood leaning against a wall looking at her.

"Are you going to give me a hand or just stand there looking pretty?"

half laughing and with a smile he moved to the other side of the car and started to secure her as well, in just a few minutes the Mustang was safely strapped and both tech and driver were settling in for the flight to come.

Back at the SSC Mike and Sarah stood on the main room speaking with the plane's pilots, they confirmed picking up KIRA and were on their way to their destination, Mike thanked them as he told them to call back before they dropped off, ending the call afterwards. Sarah took a deep breath as she turned around, heading towards KITT while Mike stayed on the main console for a while longer.

Shutting the door of the midnight black Mustang she typed in a code on the touchscreen and a map of the country with multiple glowing yellow dots appeared, each one with a date.

"When was the last contact KITT, highlight the place it happened in"

on the south east section of the country one of the dots lit up brighter than the others "Last contact happened three and a half weeks ago on a small town, accessed a wireless high-speed internet connection for under a minute"

"Can you tell what he did while connected?"

"No, I cannot. However, since the last time we met the contacts I've detected have grown closer to each other, timewise I mean, which suggest that whatever his plan might be he must be close to executing it"

Sarah leaned back on the seat, crossing her arms "I really don't like this KITT, especially with Katherine and KIRA out there right now…how did he even manage to make it out after you shot at him directly with that modified missile?"

"That is one of the question I've been trying to answer since I learned of him still being online"

"So how was the rest of your training?"

"just standard stuff KIRA and I had done many times before, how about you, you've been at that convention for the past like three days"

"well there's not much to tell, it was interesting but nothing particularly interesting really"

from the cockpit the pilots informed them that they would be arriving at the drop off point in twenty minutes "well, that's our call" Katherine got up from where she was sitting and started to walk around KIRA to remove the restrains that kept her from sliding around the plane, Matt followed her and helped by releasing the other side of the car so by the time they were done they had only another ten minutes left.

Kate opened the Mustang's driver side door and climbed in, just before she closed the door Matt leaned inside the car and handed her a handful of small spherical devices that were no more than three centimeters in diameter

"What's this?"

"just a little something I got from the convention, they're prototypes so they might not work perfectly"

"What do they do?"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out, they're sure to be quite a 'shock' " Before she could ask any more questions the tech closed the Mustang's door and went inside the cockpit as the plane continued its descent.

They touched down on an abandoned runway to allow the Mustang to drive out the same way she had gotten in, once there they had another hour to get to the place where they had located the secluded research facility, since then they had gained the knowledge that the identity of the man that had stolen the files remained unknown to whoever he was handing it over to since apparently they had only communicated via e-mail using codenames. This situation provided the perfect cover for Katherine to go in as the man bringing over the drive with the files to see who was behind all this but first her and KIRA needed to intercept the guy carrying the drive.

"You still got him on your sensors KIRA?"

"I've been tracking him ever since he left the local airport, he arrived at a hotel and is just about to leave, there is a car inbound to pick him up in thirty minutes"

"Then we better hurry"

"What's our plan?"

"You will drop me off on the back entrance and find a way to stay hidden within the hotel's parking lot, I will go inside and…persuade him into giving me the drive and after that I will take his place when the car picking him up arrives"

"wouldn't it be better if I went with you?"

"it's too risky, whoever this guy is knows about us which means that he might have a way of recognizing you even if you disguise as some other vehicle"

"I do not feel comfortable with you going on your own to a potentially hostile environment"

"I'll be fine, we have a single mission on record and it was ages ago so I am practically invisible, I can go through without being recognized and play the part for the day, we can figure something out about what to do tomorrow after I come back later tonight"

"If that's the plan you have then the only thing I can say is please be careful, and try to keep in contact"

"Will do"

KIRA provided Katherine a copy of the key to the room the guy had booked to his name using a fake ID and she immediately headed over to it where she waited until the Mustang told her that the guy had entered the hotel, he knew that if it was someone who had worked for at least some time with them then he probably knew who she was but for some reason he had said nothing to whoever he was taking the files to.

She sat on the couch that was on the corner of the room and waited until she heard the door unlocking and being pushed open, standing back up she approached the edge of the corner and crouched down, waiting for the man to walk past her; as he did so she sprung up behind him and and using a simple technique aided by his surprise she was able to immobilize him keeping a gun to his head from behind

"Who are you…what do you want?"

"You know the answer to both of those questions"

Katherine knew he recognized her voice immediately since she was physically able to feel him tense up "I don't have it anymore…"

"KIRA?" through her earpiece Kira confirmed that he had the drive in his jacket's left pocket, saying aloud the name of the AI caused the man to tense up again, he knew there was no way out of this one "hand the drive over" she pressed the gun to his back "I won't ask again"

releasing his arm Kate allowed him to reach for the drive, slowly he took it out and handed it over. Motioning for him to turn around he backed up and sat on the couch, facing the driver as she put the drive away in her pocket while still keeping the gun pointed at him

"you can't stop this"

"I can and I will, I'd do anything to keep those I care safe"

"it doesn't matter. You managed to stop me now but that doesn't mean anything he will not stop until he gets what he wants…both of them"

"who's 'them'?"

silence

"fine…" she turned around and started to make her way towards the door when she heard the man stand up and run at her, in a fraction of a second she turned around and shot him point black, dropping him instantly. Holstering and hiding her gun she exited the room and started to make her way back to the lobby of the hotel to wait for the car that was going to pick her up.

"KIRA contact base and tell them to send a team to pick him up after I leave would you"

"of course"

she toyed with the drive in her hands "how long will he remain asleep?"

"I equipped your gun with very strong sedatives that should give us at least an hour"

"You think that's enough to make the extraction?"

"it shouldn't be a problem"

"great, in that case just make sure they know to make it as inconspicuous as possible, we don't want people asking questions by chance" looking out the double glass doors Katherine saw a black car with blacked out windows pull up at the entrance "I think my ride has arrived"

"The car at the front entrance is heavily protected and has a very peculiar tracking system, I believe it is safe to assume that is the car that was scheduled for the pickup"

"Relay whatever information you can gather back to base, I'm going to cease contact from now until I am back here" standing up the AI's driver took out her earpiece and ditched it at the trash can near the exit, walking out she was received by a man dressed in jeans and a black coat and shoes, when they faced each other he looked her over in a questioning manner but as soon as Kate showed him the drive he nodded and went to get back on the driver's seat.

The drive to the secluded lab was long and the special tint on the car's windows barely allowed Kate to see anything other than out the front windshield, she fiddled with the drives in her pocket, regretting not leaving the real one back at the hotel, the drive she would hand in would buy her enough time in case it was checked over while she was still at the lab, the files in it had altered information in key places that would be hard to notice yet if applied they wouldn't work at all. When she eventually arrived she was surprised to see a single man at the entrance of the large complex with a tablet that wasn't too much unlike the ones her mother and the techs used back at base, he greeted her flatly with suspicious eyes before leading her into the building.

Despite its bland exterior appearance, the inside of the building was lined with doors that leaded to large rooms filled with techs working on high-end computers. While walking past one of the more open rooms she managed to see in one of the large wall mounted monitors some of the code they were working on, by its apparent structure and sheer size, combined with the fact that they tried stealing very valuable information on that very subject it was clear what their intentions were.

Her musings were then interrupted by the greeting of a tall man in a suit, he had brown hair combed in an ordered fashion and carried himself highly, his dark brown eyes looking calmly at her in a way that truly betrayed his true intention, so in other words: an expert in deceit…

"Greetings, it's quite a surprise to finally meet you"

"The feeling is mutual Mr…?"

"let's not concern ourselves with names for now, come, we have some things to discuss" the man turned around and Kate was instructed to follow him, the two walked through another set of corridors that made it hard for the Mustang's driver to remember each turn in case of an emergency but she still managed. They entered a large open room connected to a garage type warehouse subdivided in two different sections, it looked like a smaller version of the SSC's hangar in a way, if it were equipped with the same type of computers and equipment it had on the inside…

"So as you can see I've gathered quite the team of very capable technicians and engineers to bring this place together, despite their capacity the only thing they still have not managed to replicate is, sadly, the center of my whole research; a functioning AI"

"You never told me for what do you want your own AI, it's peaked my interest now and considering the favor I did for you here I would appreciate at least some idea of what you want to do with this" she pulled out the drive from her pocket and brought it up to him

"Well…all things considered I guess It wouldn't hurt to tell you the general idea of why I'm doing this. For starters it would make me rich if I managed to successfully recreate an AI such as the ones Knight Industries got by selling to the military, maybe even to other people with enough money in their pockets"

"So this is all just for money?"

"For the most part…although I've had some help from someone that's interested in more than just money, he'll get what he wants as soon as I hand the files you just brought to my techs so they can start getting things done, we're sure to attract some attention from your friends back at FLAG then but lucky for us it'll be too late for them to do anything. They'll drive their two AIs straight into the road of no return"

as he continued musing about his plans and just showing off his equipment to her Katherine drifted off into musings of her own, mainly the part where he mentioned that he had someone working with him that had some more personal goals.

By the time they reached the end of the hangar through a catwalk that ran above and around the place he had finished explaining other things that were useless to her, he started to go around how she managed to get the files to which she only told how the guy that did it had done it (excluding the part where he got caught and knocked out with elephant tranquilizer of course)

"Well I will say, I know the security standards that the place has and the two AIs are constantly checking everything in a nearly 24/7 basis so this feat was quite impressive" he took a step closer to her "Now, I have much to do here and I am sure you will want to take off somewhere else considering your situation, I'd hate to keep you from that so why don't you just, hand over the drive and we can both go on our ways" he stretched out his hand to her with an open palm, waiting.

getting sure she was taking out the decoy-drive she handed him the device, taking a step back afterwards. The man eyes the thing carefully before handing it over to one of his techs who immediately walked away with it which meant that starting now her timer to get out of the place was starting to count down.

"It was a pleasure making business with you, your reward will be waiting for you back at your hotel room once you start making your way back."

"I expect the reward will be fitting to the trouble I had to go through"

"it will, of that you can be assured, now come, I would appreciate your help with something here quickly considering that if you were a good enough tech to work for FLAG then you should be able to fix this little thing for me in no time"

the two started to walk off the way they had come, he continued to explain about what he wanted her to do.

"So you just need a way to override a built-in core program?"

"shouldn't be too hard for you"

'Actually, it would be hard to even the most expert of techs, it would probably be hard even for her mom for crying out loud!' "Why such specific task, I though all I had to do was bring you the drive and I got to walk away"

"I just need this little extra bit of intel, your work is still very much appreciated and I can assure you that both the team of techs working here and my special friend will really appreciate your little package" as they continued to walk from down below Katherine heard the roaring of a powerful engine, the second she recognized it a chill ran through her spine and a wave of cold sweat washed over her "Speak of the devil…it would look like he's arrived" down in the entrance of the hangar driving in slowly was an impossibly dark matte black Mustang, over its grille a bright amber yellow scanner tracked back and forth.

Trying to stay completely calm despite her situation she continued to walk with the man, as soon as they were out of visual range from the Mustang she turned to the head of the whole operation next to her

"sorry to interrupt but, I'm not feeling very well, is there anywhere I can get some water around here?"

stopping and turning to look at her rather annoyed he was about to tell her to wait but her rather pale appearance seemed to back her well enough "fine, follow the guard behind you, he'll give you something to drink then bring you back over to us, don't take too long"

Surprised that her excuse had worked she followed the guard, eventually they entered some sort of storage room with a few types of food. Making sure that no one was too close to them she closed and locked the door, this made the guard tense up yet before he could reach for his gun or radio Katherine knocked him out with a kick to the head; sure that he would remain unconscious for at least a few minutes she walked out the door and trying to blend in she walked through the maze of rooms and corridors in search of a vehicle that she could take to get out of the place.

She could've gone back to the man and just played by whatever he wanted but the longer he stayed the more chances she had of her cover being blown completely and especially now that she found out that KARR was there, she still hoped that by some miracle he had failed to notice her because if he did recognize her and told someone then her time to escape had just been cut short even more…

Hurrying around the building she searched for any door that could lead to a possible exit yet so far she had only managed to find her way back to the main hangar and after what she and seen there that was the last place she wanted to be near. With each passing minute she grew anxious and when she started hearing commands and seeing more guards around she figured that either KARR had seen her, the guard she knocked out had woken up or the head of the place had send people to look for her and all of those options ended with her most likely being captured or even possibly killed…

Almost by pure luck she stumbled into a door that lead outside to a parking lot that had a few vehicles, getting out she locked the door behind her and went to the nearest car. Hoping no one was close enough to hear she kicked the window a few times until it shattered, granting her access to the vehicle; hopping in she pulled the cables from under the console as she struggled to remember how to jumpstart the car, sparks jumped from the cables as they touched just as loud banging came from the other side of the door she had come out of.

"Oh come on come one…work!"

guards poured out of the door seconds later as she furiously tried to start the car and just when she thought she was worse than dead the small vehicle's engine came to life; with not even a second to celebrate she kicked the car into gear and peeled off, making more than one guard jump out of the way to avoid being run over. Breaking through the wire fence that surrounded the complex she got to the road she presumed was the one she had taken there and floored it, wanting to get as far away as possible from the place.

Taking out her phone and dialing the only number she could think of at the time she set It on speaker and dropped it on the passenger's seat, after two rings the call was answered

"Yes?"

"KIRA!"

The AI detected the fear in her driver's voice almost immediately, concern crept up her processor as she tried to figure out what had happened that had caused her driver to slip into such a state "Katherine wat happened?"

"KIRA there's been an emergency, track my phone and meet me somewhere safe. This line isn't secure so I can't tell you exactly wat happened but just please hurry"

"Do not worry, I will start to plot an interception route now" ending the call the AI wasted no time and instantly peeled off of the parking spot she was in, gaining more than a few weird looks her way as she exited the hotel's parking lot, waiting to be out of any camera range to switch to her attack mode to be able to achieve higher speeds and get to her driver.

Each passing minute felt like hours of constantly glancing at her rearview mirror, every time dreading to see that amber scanner behind her, she knew KIRA was on her way to her but not knowing how long it would take was killing her, it had only been over ten minutes since she spoke to her and already it was an eternity of worrying thoughts and possible worst case scenarios. Her mind drifted off for a few minutes and for a second the thought of having escaped successfully crossed her mind but of course all of those thoughts vanished when through her broken window in the distance she heard an approaching engine, one that was so easy to recognize for her now it wasn't even funny…

Far behind her a dark shape started to come closer from the horizon, a bright yellow scanner tracking back and forth at a quick pace on top of the modified Mustang's grille, KIRA was nowhere near and now that she thought about it maybe it was for the better since she would not want her to have to face KARR unprepared. She pressed harder down on the accelerator in hopes of gaining some time but the AI closed the gap between them effortlessly getting closer and closer by the second. Just as Katherine was getting ready for the impact that was sure to come she remembered the small devices Matt gave her on the plane, she kept two of them just in case and considering her circumstances she thought that this could be a good time to figure out what they did.

Taking both out of her pocket she pressed a small button on each one, the things started to glow red in a steady blinking light, a timer of some sort, out of options and ideas she threw them through her open window and some distance behind her through the rearview mirror she saw the scanner on the Mustang chasing her blink unsteadily as sparks and electric bolts ran through the car that started to fade in the distance, a cry of relief left her as she pressed down on the accelerator again to try and get a gap between them since she didn't know how long would that stall KARR but however long that might be she was sure going to take advantage of it.

Eventually after another twenty minutes of nervous driving Katherine heard the sound of a powerful engine in the distance, it was too far to distinguish but looking through the rearview mirror she felt a wave of relief overcome her at the sight of the scarlet red scanner. She stopped on the side of the road and a minute later the AI stopped next to her, climbing inside the AI's interior she instantly told her to go, alarmed the AI complied before even having time to ask any more questions. Once driving at a considerable speed KIRA noticed Kate had relaxed slightly so she decided to try and figure out what had happened.

In a lower tone and almost carefully the AI called to her driver, who had just now stopped constantly looking at the rearview mirror "Katherine?" the young woman turned to look at her voice modulator worryingly "what happened back there that could've made you so scared?"

It took her a few seconds to respond but when she did the simple four letter answer made even the AI feel a pang of fear deep down, subconsciously picking up her speed even more.

As they drove away Katherine explained to the AI everything that had happened, knowing this they both knew that they not only couldn't go back to the hotel, but that they needed to get as far away as possible without being detected; KIRA immediately activated her dampening shields that would be able to hide her signal from almost any satellite or computer.

"There's something very weird going on here KIRA"

"I was thinking the same thing"

"Why would KARR of all people make an alliance or a pact or however you want to call it with that group of people, it makes no sense especially since the guy is only in it for the money"

"maybe it is his way of getting the money that convinced KARR from joining him"

"what do you mean?"

"creating an AI from scratch is an incredibly hard task that takes years of work and research to accomplish, even with a skilled group of technicians as big as you describe it the task does not get any easier and that is why he needed the files you supposedly handed in"

"what does that have to do with KARR?"

"even if he had managed to get those files he would not be able to fully create a functioning AI so in reality-"

"-the files were just a decoy…to attract us"

"and we fell right for it"

"we have to tell my parents at HQ, KIRA contact them, fast"

a few seconds later Sarah's face appeared on the AI's HUD, a flurry of activity in the background

"Mom! The guy that wanted the files is working with-"

"KARR…we know"

now it was Kate's turn to be surprised "what?...how?"

"I'll explain later, KITT and Mike are on a plane heading towards you guys now and it shouldn't be too long for them to touch down and get to your location. I'll tell them to contact you two as soon as they're in-route on the ground"

the line ended there and the only thing Kate was able to do was share a confused look that the AI mirrored, the drove in silence for a few minutes before her driver was thrown against the seat with a sudden burst of speed.

"KIRA what are you doing?!"

"I have detected a possible threat closing in on us fast"

"Possible threat what do you mean by possible threat?"

silence

"KIRA!"

"KARR is behind us and closing in fast, please hold on, Initiating evasive maneuvers"

The first thing that came to the young woman's mind was how in the world had KARR managed to locate them, KIRA had her cloaking program activated but somehow he was slowly catching up to them as they drove away, even more troubling was the fact that she had just ceased communication with her mother not even ten minutes ago yet they did not warn her of KARR now.

"How did KARR managed to sneak up on you?"

"I do not know, even now I cannot detect him and I only knew he was behind us because I was checking satellite images of a wide radius around us since I picked you up. It could be possible that he has upgraded himself in some way that isn't just a shield or other electronic media to hide himself"

just as the AI finished talking another chat line appeared on the windshield. This time it showed Matt in the plane's cargo bay.

"Kate!, you two need to head east asap, KARR-"  
"We know, KIRA saw him using satellite imagery we're trying to get away from him right now, why do you need us to head east?"

"We just dropped Mike and KITT to the east of you, you're going to want to be with him if KARR catches up to you"

Closing the chat like Katherine took a hold of the wheel as KIRA contacted KITT briefly for their location, on the car's HUD a map line appeared on the road marking the way the had to take while on the lower top left corner remained a number slowly counting down the distance between her and KARR, wherever her dad and KITT had landed she hoped that they reached them soon…

He couldn't believe his luck, not even an hour after Katherine arrived at her destination KARR reappeared less than an hour from her location, immediately he informed Sarah who talked to Mike and explained what her and KITT had been doing, rather angry at the two for keeping such a secret from them they left and boarded the plane to head to her as fast as possible. He had to double-check the second time the signal appeared and for a second he hoped that his central processor was just having some sort of malfunction when he saw KARR's signal steadily blinking just over a kilometer behind KIRA right after they touched down.

He had no idea what his twin as planning now but of one thing he was sure, he was showing himself intentionally, maybe to drag him out, maybe for some other unknown reason but other than that there was no reason for him to bluntly show himself like that…something was very wrong and it bothered him not to be able to tell what it was.

"KITT you there?" the AI snapped out of his train of thought realizing that his driver had been calling him, apologizing he turned his attention to him "do you still have KARR's signal?"

"I do, he is getting closer to KIRA as we speak despite her efforts of getting away, I'm afraid he had upgraded himself vastly since we last met"

"How can you say that only on his speed?"

"I am sure that amongst his upgrades he had either re-applied or redesigned his protective outer coating, combined with the fact that it's impossible for us to track him other than whenever he connects to the internet I imagine he has found a way to apply some sort of dense metal to cloak himself from any radar"

Mike was quiet for a few minutes, then "KITT is he still connected to the internet?"

"Yes, why?"

"something's not right…"

"I've been thinking the same thing"

"can you check what he's doing on the internet? If he wanted to remain unseen he would've done whatever he needed to do and then just disappear, he's up to something"

"I believe your theory is correct Michael"

"what did you see?"

"He's doing nothing"

"What do you mean by nothing?"

"I mean that he is just idle on the internet, there is no ongoing or incoming data of any sort"

"he's literally just showing himself, he's using himself and KIRA as bait…"

"It would appear like he is"

"then we better hurry up and catch up to them"

"We'll be heading straight into his trap"

"We don't have a choice KITT"

Without even needing to say it the AI switched to his attack mode and started to pick up speed fast, plotting the fastest road to intercept with the younger AI he kept monitoring her and how close KARR was getting, with some luck he could make it to her before he did…

Katherine's full focus was on monitoring the AI's stats as well as on the rearview mirror, fixed on the dark speck that was quickly approaching them, the ground and sky around them melting together in shades of green trees against the bright orange sky of the approaching sunset.

"This was all a trap, I should've listened to you and let you follow us towards the lab"

"Kate had I gone with you KARR would've detected my signal straight away and your cover would be instantly blown, making your escape near impossible. The decisions you made were the appropriate ones"

"Yet here we are running for our lives"

"What makes you think that? From what you told me he is working for those people which means that whatever he wants from us he will not cause us any harm"

"Still, I don't like this one bit"

Katherine went to say someone else but before she could say anything an alarm blared inside the car as a red 'warning' screen covered the entire windscreen, the seatbelt automatically tightened around her as the car jerked forwards after being rammed strongly from behind.

"KIRA!"

"I'm fine, hold on, I'm going to try and evade KARR's incoming hits"

"KIRA call KITT, ask him how far away he is"

another him came from her side, Katherine looked out her window and froze at the sight of a matte black Mustang just mere inches away from KIRA's side mirror

"How are you coping up with those hits KIRA?"

"I'm fine, my shields have taken most of the damage but they are very strong"

KARR slipped back behind them just as in the distance Kate saw another black shape, red lights tracking fast above its grille, it dashed past the two before performing a tight turn and ending right behind KARR, seeing this KIRA started to slow down a small bit to allow KIT to catch up to them but in response he got another hard ram from KARR. Through their private link KITT contacted KIRA, the urgency in his voice clearly distinguishable.

"KIRA, I'll take care of KARR, there is an airport a few miles off where the plane will be landing, head there now"

"We can take him on now, there's the two of us against him we-"

"KIRA I will not say this gain, I gave you and order, now start picking up speed, I'm slowing KARR down"

Rather reluctantly and taking Kate by surprise the AI gained a sudden burst of speed by angling her turbo boost straight behind her, taken back by this KARR was about to speed right behind her but was stopped by KITT shooting his grapping hook at him and slowing down, forcing him to loose speed. KARR kept pushing forwards but eventually KITT switched to reverse and forced KARR to be almost at a standstill as the cloud of quickly rising white tire smoke engulfed them both.

"KITT I can't see KARR anymore; can you clear the smoke?"

"I'm sorry Michael, I cannot, even if I managed to dissipate it if we both continue to hold each other down it will be seconds before the smoke blocks our view again"

"we need to have a visual on him KITT"

Before either of them knew it KARR lunged backwards at them, landing a direct hit on KITT as both cars sped backwards, using a quick maneuver that took even the midnight black Mustang by surprise his twin spun around launched his own grappling hook at him, getting it stuck by a single end just under his right side. Stopping completely in just seconds KARR let the strength of KITT's own momentum carry him before his grappling went taut and whipped the Mustang clean across the road and into a lone tree on the side of the otherwise empty landscape.

Dazed after the sudden impact KITT was barely able to react and before he knew it KARR was driving in circles around him while unreeling his reinforced grappling hook's cable, effectively tangling him against the tree with no room to move or escape. KARR slowed down and stopped right in front of KITT, the Mustang still keeping his engine with a menacing growl in challenge despite his condition, KARR's amber scanner tracked slowly in an almost mocking way as he too kept his engine with a low, menacing rumble.

The two remained like that for a few seconds, only slight variations of their growling engines filled the quiet road they were next to. No words were exchanged between the two, at least out loud, and without any warning KARR drifted around and took off into the dark highway, kicking the loose dirt on the side of the road up and over the stuck Mustang; in a matter of seconds he was gone both from KITT's fiend of view and from his radars.

Inside the Mustang only a stunned and very confused Michael Knight remained "KITT…what was that?"

The AI remained quiet

"KITT?"

"A warning…"

"Warning? But he didn't even say a thing"

"No, not out loud at least, but he did this for a reason…he wanted to prove that if he so wished he could've ended things right here and now"

"You mean he would've-…why didn't he then?"

"Because as KIRA and your daughter found out he is no longer working alone"

"Didn't think he was much of a team player"

"He's not, and that's why we have to take this warning seriously" the car jerked to a side as KITT tried to use his remaining boost to free himself from his tangled mess to no avail.

"Can you get us out of this KITT?"

"Not unless you manage to somehow climb out and help me"

The two discussed several possibilities but KITT couldn't open either of his doors and the window that wasn't pressed against the tree had a section of the cable passing right through its middle, reducing the space that the AI's driver had to get out. Eventually Mike suggested climbing through the trunk, KITT could lower the panel that divided his cabin from the trunk on attack mode and allow Mike to climb back there, opening his trunk afterwards since it was unblocked by the cables.

After going through some awkward climbing around the inside of the car Mike was finally able to tumble out into the dirt, he walked around KITT looking somewhere to start untangling the car, pulling the grappling hook free from where it had stuck the cable instantly loosened up and KITT's right side wheels that had previously been partly off the ground came down with a crunch of dirt and small rocks that gave in under the weight.

The sound of another approaching engine and the approaching light of headlights reflecting off of KITT's midnight black surface in the near darkness of the late dusk alarmed Mike, turning around quickly he instantly relaxed to the sight of a scarlet red scanner; Katherine got down and approached her father.

"What happened? Where's KARR?"

"Gone" he glanced at KITT "But not before causing a fair amount of trouble"

"You two all right?"

"Yeah, KITT probably has a scratch or two but nothing more"

"You were lucky this is all he did to you guys, he's vastly upgraded himself, or at least that's what KIRA and I think"

"Why did you two come back? I thought KITT told you to run away"

the young AI drove forwards, closing in towards KITT "And leave the two of you alone with him? Not a chance" using her laser she quickly cut the cable in two places. Enough to allow Mike and Kate to simply pull it off of KITT.

Finally free the midnight black Mustang drove away from the tree and closer to KIRA, Mike and Kate "We must inform our techs back at base about this, if we are going to face KARR eventually when we will need to get some upgrades ourselves in order to have a fighting chance against him"

Mike walked over to his driver's side "Agreed, the sooner we get to it the better, we have no idea what KARR's plan is or when is he and his new group going to make their move so the best we can do now is hurry and get the two of you upgraded"

Kate leaned back against the black and blue Mustang "So what's our plan?"

"KITT already called the plane back to pick you two up, I'll stay around here with KITT while another one is sent down here to pick us up and we'll meet back at base by morning"

Nodding Kate climbed inside the AI and they both took off towards their rendezvous point with the plane, shortly after Mike and KITT followed behind them and waited around the runway until the two had boarded the plane and taken off.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three**

 **Taken**

Katherine arrived back at base a few hours into the night, her and KIRA had been discussing how Sarah knew that they were being chased by KARR before they told them, KIRA said that when he asked KITT he said that he had told her but if that was the case then why didn't he tell her? Plus how did he even manage to detect his signal considering he had been impossible to track since after the incident.

The black and blue Mustang rolled to a stop inside the main chamber and an anxious Sarah immediately walked in, followed by Matt and Sydney.

Sarah went straight for Katherine and hugged her as she asked if she was okay while Matt and Sydney took a good look at KIRA to make sure she was fine too, Kate managed to free herself from her mother's grip and take a few steps back until she had her back against the AI's side

"Kate?"

"How did you and KITT get word of KARR in our area before we told you about it? Or even before I knew he was there since by the time we called KITT was already on his way with dad by then"

"Katherine I don't-"

"And don't lie about this, I know you have your secrets, you always have but this is bigger than just you"

there was a moment of silence before Sarah answered, she never meant for Kate or KIRA to know her and KITT had been tracking KARR for over a year now, not like this at least… "after the whole SSC incident two years aggo KITT and I managed to sample part of KARR's signal and we used borrowed internet satellites to keep constant surveillance on him"

"You were tracking him? You knew where he was all this time?!"

"We could only detect his signal whenever he was connected to the internet, we only got very quick pings over long periods of time…but yes, to an extent"

"And neither one of you though this information would be of use to the rest of us?"

"KITT and I thought it would be better if we kept it secret, only us two knew of this"

"So this was a 'need to know' kind of thing but you didn't think that just maybe KIRA and I needed to know of this, even after what he did to KIFT?!" She turned away from her mother and glanced at the Black and Blue Mustang behind her "What he did to US…"

"Kate I'm-"

"Don't...just don't" She knew that if she had stayed any longer most likely she would've said something she'd regret later, she had seen how her mother had turned away from her at the sheer mention of KIFT so she knew she had struck a nerve but she couldn't believe that they had kept this secret hidden so long. Even from her mother she could understand the secrecy but KITT? She had grown quite close to the older AI after their last near-death experience and there were no secrets between them and KIRA…or at least that's what she thought before all this happened…

about an hour later KITT drove into the main chamber, the fact that KIRA hadn't said a word to him since her arrival here caused him to believe that something had happened, because of the current circumstances then most likely she had found out that Sarah and him knew about KARR all along, and if she knew then that meant that Kate knew as well. As if to confirm his suspicion after greeting Mike Sarah headed straight for him.

Falling into the passenger's seat and shutting his door Sarah laid back with a sigh before turning to look at KITT's voice modulator

"They know KITT, they're both angry at the both of us for keeping this from them and…to be honest I think we made a mistake"

"At least that explains why the sudden silence from KIRA…"

"We should've told them about it, this concerns the two of them as much as it concerns us"

"You cannot blame yourself for this Sarah, you have to remember that at the time we made that decision the memories of what happened were still fresh…for the both of us"

"I know, and I know that at the time we saw it better to keep them from it for their own protection, knowing them if they knew where KARR was shortly after the fight they would've gone after him while he was still weak" she turned her head to look out of the currently tinted windows "maybe we should've done that ourselves, we could've avoided all of this if we had"

"Sarah" the tech turned to look back at the AI's voice modulator "What's done it's done, there is no use in thinking about what we could have done now, the best we can do is try to make things right"

"I…I guess you're right, it's not going to be easy though"

Leaning back on her seat once more Sarah turned her attention to the empty station to the right of the car, trying to picture a white and blue Mustang back in it's place. This did no go unnoticed by the AI "KITT do you…miss her?"

The midnight black Mustang stood quiet for a few seconds as he too looked at the empty space next to him "More than I ever thought I would…"

As the night wore on fewer and fewer people remained at the main chamber, eventually only the two AIs remained, KIRA had fallen into her recharge mode about an hour ago so that only left KITT. Making sure that no one was within hearing range KITT slowly reversed out of the chamber and through the entry tunnel keeping his engine on stealth mode, only turning around and flooring it once he was outside and the doors were closed once more.

Expertly waving through the bends of the mountain road he reached the cliff where he knew KIRA and Kate usually went to every now and then to catch the sunset or sunrise. Shutting off his lights and engine he stood at the edge, the cool breeze from such early morning hours easily moving across his sleek finish as he watched the white stars on the dark royal blue background. The ruby red scanner tracked dimly back and forth slowly as the Mustang settled on his shocks and sank closer to the ground; the talk he had with Sarah earlier that night sprung back unwanted memories that he had managed to to push back not that long ago and yet again he found himself wondering what could've happened had the outcome of that battle been different…

The AI sunk closer to the ground at the feeling of a sudden rush of cold air as he continued deep in thought, trying now to think of a way to get KIRA to understand that Sarah and him had kept this secret for a good reason, to protect her and Katherine for the most part. he kept throwing the last part around his processor, maybe more than to protect them he had subconsciously done it to protect himself from yet another loss at the hands of his twin.

Time lost all meaning as he continued to look at the stars, deciding to drive back once he saw the hints of the approaching sunrise over the horizon, the drive back was slow and he was lucky enough so that by the time he entered the complex the main room was still void of anything other than KIRA. After much though he was about to set himself to rest for a little while until the sound of approaching footsteps called his attention.

Katherine came around the corner of one of the hallways still dressed on her loose pajama pants and a blue tank top, hair messily tied up in a bun. With crossed arms and a tired expression she approached the AI, sitting down on the floor in front of the ruby red scanner as it sluggishly tracked back and forth with a low glow.

"I didn't think anyone would be awake at this hour of the morning"

"Couldn't sleep, and by the looks of it you had the same problem" she placed a hand on his front bumper, the normally warm metal feeling cool to the touch "You were outside weren't you?" at this Kate saw the barely noticeable change in the scanner's pacing as well as the sudden shift on the car's weight

"I…yes, I went outside for a few hours. Katherine I understand if you are angry with me and Sarah for what we did and I have to apologize for it but you have to understand that at the time both of us saw it better to keep this information secret"

"I know KITT, I didn't have the best reaction towards it either and to be honest I let my emotions get the better of me earlier. I thought about this during the night and I see your point of view on the subject"

"You're not mad?"

"I couldn't be mad at you KITT, not for long anyways" she sat on her knees to be at eye level with the AI, placing a hand over the ruby scanner "You've been one of my best friends since I can remember KITT, nothing will change that if I can help it" with this said Kate felt the change in the car as it leaned forwards ever so slightly into her touch.

"Thank you Kate"

"There's nothing to thank, KIRA seemed to take this a little harder than I did, you might want to talk to her about it later, I can try and help out if she's too stubborn about it"

"I appreciate your offer, but I believe it would be better if I manage to do this on my own"

"well, still, if you need anything just tell me" she stood back up and started to walk away, stopping just after a few steps "KITT I…I do have to know though, why did you and my mom decide to keep this from us?"

There was silence from the AI for a few seconds before he was able to bring himself to answer "When we first found out that we could track KARR it had been just over a month after the…incident, and you know just how much it had impacted KIRA. I knew that if we were to give her this information she would've gone out after KARR hoping that maybe he wasn't fully healed which, in any other case, I would agree to doing but considering that KARR had been able to somehow leave the hangar after I shot that missile he surely had someone else to help him, an entire month is more than enough time for him to at the very least be repaired nearly back to optimal working standards. Knowing this I could not allow KIRA to go after him in blind anger and risk getting herself hurt" there was a pause "Sarah and I had this agreement in order to protect both of you, or at least we saw it like that back then…maybe all along I subconsciously did it to protect myself from yet another loss…"

Katherine had walked back to KITT and was now standing in front of him as he finished, she noticed how the scanner was now tracking back and forth slightly faster as emotions she knew the AI had been keeping to himself so far were brought out to the open "It's okay KITT" she placed a hand on his hood "I didn't know how you felt about all this and I understand why you did it"

"Maybe if I had convinced Sarah to give the two of you this information sooner we wouldn't be in this situation, maybe we could've gone after him sooner and none of this would be happening…"

"Don't take it upon yourself, it's not your fault and you could've never predicted that KARR was going to be working for the guys that KIRA and I faced on that last mission, if anything now we have a lead on him and we could figure out a way to take him out and get all of this over with"

"I hope you're right. I appreciate the time you took to listen and…for forgiving me"

"get some rest KITT, might do you well"

"You too Katherine"

after that the young driver turned away and walked back to her pod, being able to take such weight from himself helped ease the AI's troubled processor enough to allow him to slip into recharge for the next hour or so before people started to wake up, he hoped that by then KIRA was back online and he could talk to her about this; until then he might as well get some rest.

As the sun rose higher above the horizon more and more people started to pour in from the hallways and into the main chamber, KITT had talked to Sarah about his conversation with Katherine that morning to which she answered that Kate had already talked to her and both were back in good terms, when she asked him about KIRA though KITT had to admit that he hadn't been able to talk to her about it yet but that he was going to as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

KITT watched the AI sitting by his side stood calmly in her place, scanner tracking back and forth in a calmed manner though the low glow signaled that she was probably deep in though. Reaching through their internal link KITT tried calling her attention with a gentle pulse, the young AI immediately turned her attention to him.

"KIRA I'm-"

"No, don't…"

"please, let me explain-"

"There is nothing to be explained…I know it all"

"Did Katherine speak to you about it?"

"No, I heard the two of you speaking early in the morning…I couldn't bring myself to slow down my processor enough. I also know that you left in the middle of the night"

"You heard everything that I told her?"

"yes…I understand now why you and Sarah chose to keep this information from us since you were not wrong when you said that if I had known of his location I would have gone after him. Now that we know that he's working with someone we need to move fast"

"Agreed, I've talked to Sarah about this already and she plans on giving us some upgrades before we face him again"

"if that is the case then I suggest we start working on them as soon as possible"

Just under an hour later Sarah had gathered the group of techs that consisted of Kate's friends to give them the task of getting the new upgrades for the AIs ready, the two Mustangs would have to remain deactivated for the new programs and hardware to be installed, because their time was cut short they had to get to work fast so immediately Sydney and Matt got to work on the software modifications for the AIs, while they remained shut down Kate was given the task to drive to one of the nearby town and get a few supplies for some of the hardware that was going to be implemented. Taking the keys for her car she went to the rear entrance where most of the company vehicles were stored, walking to the very back she passed by her dad's white Volvo and Zoe's red Focus before reaching her metallic steel CRV, stopping to unlock the door she caught a glimpse of the car parked on the other side of her car, causing her to freeze on the spot.

Walking around the front of her car she came face to face with a white and blue GT500 that after a closer inspection she realized was what had once been KIFT's shell, after the incident she hadn't asked what had happened to the AI's shell and she supposed it had most likely been sent to storage somewhere, never had she though that her mom would have the shell repaired and brought here in case it was ever needed. She was amazed at how it looked, the only sign the car had of once holding a highly advanced AI was the long air intake on its hood where the scanner had once been.

After a few minutes Katherine forced herself to get back to her current task, the two was a few hours away and she couldn't be wasting time but she was going to ask Sarah about this when she came back, mainly why hadn't she told her about it.

Kate drove out of the complex and towards the nearest town two hours away, luckily she was going to be able to find everything she needed. She had always enjoyed driving through the highway, especially when there were no buildings or man-made structures, in this case it was only the passing trees and hills of the lower part of the mountain range they had settled on.

It was no secret that she would rather be out driving than cramped up at base, she only wished that KIRA was with her but the new software Sydney and Matt were going to do had the two AIs shut down, she had resigned herself that it was going to be quite a boring day when she heard about the upgrades but thankfully they had sent her over to pick up some more equipment.

The two hours passed and Kate entered the outskirts of the small town, she used her phone to find the store she needed and a few minutes later she was entering the parking lot. Surprisingly she was able to find everything she needed after stopping by about three different stores and before leaving the town she decided to stop at a fast food restaurant to get a quick snack before beginning her long drive back.

It took her close to fifteen minutes to get out of the small town and into the highway, she plugged in her phone and turned up the music as her playlist went on. She was the only car on the highway for miles and she was happy with that, there were no other cars to ruin the perfect landscape and that was probably the thing she liked the most about driving out here, the view.

She turned back to look at the road ahead and for a second she caught a glimpse of black on the rear view mirror, she looked back at it and even turned her head back to make sure she wasn't seeing things but there was nothing there, she looked back to the road and the next thing she knew her car was flying through the air; after flying some meters it landed with a loud thud giving several flips before finally stopping on its roof on the shoulder of the road as two more vehicles approached from the oncoming lane…

Back at base Sydney had just finished installing the new defense system in KIRA, who was now working at the track, and was already half way through KITT. Noah was working in one of the labs still having troubles with the Nano-skin so it was going to be some time until he finally was able to get a suitable combination to work properly but that was not going to happen unless Katie arrived with the materials he needed.

Deciding to check if she had arrived he went over to the main chamber where he found Matt still working on KITT

"Hey Matt" Noah said as he entered the large room

"what's up?"

"Is Kate back yet?"

"No, why?"

"I need some materials for my tests"

"Well she left quite some time ago, it shouldn't take long for her to arrive"

"Hopefully…"

Just then KIRA came back in through the tunnel "Wait, I know" he got up from his chair and walked towards the black and blue Mustang as it slowed to a stop on her platform "KIRA could you do me a favor and call Katherine?"

"Of course" she said already dialing the number, a minute went by and there was still no answer "She's not responding..."

"Maybe she left her phone on silent?" Noah asked, walking up to the Mustang

"That's unlike her...try again KIRA"

"I just did, she's still not answering"

"what's the problem here guys?" Mike asked as he walked into the room

"Katherine's not answering her phone and we haven't heard anything about her since she left"

"KIRA can't you use her phone signal to locate her?"

"with the configuration it has we can't track her unless she's using her phone"

"Right…"

"Guys!" the group turned to look at Sarah as she entered the room, phone in hand "We just got a call from the police of a nearby town, there was a crash almost an hour ago and they want us to go and check it out"

"A crash? Why would they call us just for a crash?" Matt asked

"yes, and I don't know. KITT can you give us a satellite view of the area?"

There was silence from the AI as the large screen on the wall switched to a map as it zoomed in on the location of the crash; all they could see was some police cruisers as well as an ambulance next to a flipped over car in the shoulder of the road.

Mike approached the screen and told KITT to focus on the flipped over car, it had taken him a second but he had no problem identifying the car "Sarah does that car seem familiar to you at all?"

The woman walked over next to Mike, it took her a second before she noticed the metallic shine on the steel gray paint that was visible from one of the sides and the Honda logo on the rims "It's Kate!"

Matt was the first one to look over at the screen then "what?!"

"KIRA was under repairs so she took her car to pick up the stuff we needed"

"This can't be good..."

Mike turned to the tech currently working on KITT "Sydney is KITT ready?"

"I just finished"

"Good, Sarah in KITT we have to go" KITT opened both his doors and waited until the two were inside hi before accessing his platform and turning around, shooting out of the room leaving double streaks on the floor

KIRA's own station started turning before Matt went over to her "Wait!" Matt said running towards her "I'm going with you"

The AI opened her passenger's door then, Matt got in just as KIRA started to accelerate; in under a minute both were out of the complex and driving down the small road that would take them to the base of the mountain. both AIs where moving at an amazing rate of speed, maneuvering around the occasional car they came across and taking corners like never before, they needed to get to the crash site as fast as possible…

She had no idea how long it had been since she had lost consciousness, the movement of the vehicle she was in had helped her regain herself and as soon as she did her mind instinctively kicked into overdrive as it slipped into her training. Not even making a move in case someone was watching she tried to gather as much information as she could; by the sound of it the vehicle she was traveling in was moving through either a dirt path or a poorly paved road, her hands were tied behind her back and she was blindfolded lying on her side on what she could only guess was the back of some sort of van.

It wasn't until her mind had slowed down that she started to feel the throbbing in her head and the constant waves of pain that came from her leg, before she could start thinking of a possible way out considering her injuries the van stopped and the driver and passenger's side door opened. Footsteps went towards the back and the double doors were opened, letting a cool breeze into the otherwise hot car 'Was it night already? How long have I been out?!'

The two people carried her out of the car then, the thought of attempting an escape now crossed her mind but the pain in her leg told her that her initial crash had left her with more than just a hit to the head and sprained leg which meant that she wasn't running away anytime soon. She guessed she was carried inside a building of some sort, after a few minutes the two people carrying her set her down somewhere and started to untie her hands, guiding herself purely by sound she used her good leg to kick one of the men square in the chest, knocking him down gasping for air just as she took her blindfold off and stood up only to fall to the ground clenching her leg 'yup, definitely broken'

The commotion called the attention of the second man that had carried her here who she now noticed had stayed out of the room, two more men came in behind him and he instructed them to take the knocked out guard away, seeing her on the ground unable to move he simply closed the door once everyone was out and locked it…

The two AIs had made it to the crash site in record time and the two drivers and tech climbed down immediately to investigate the scene in front of them: Katherine's metallic steel CRV was upside down on the side of the road and a trail of broken glass and pieces lay scattered for some distance behind them which meant that the car had at least done a few flips before landing

Matt walked around the car before going to Mike, taking note of the large dent and overall destruction of the car's left front end. After he had talked to one of the police officers that were around he walked over to where Mike and KIRA were standing"Do they know what happened?"

"No, they said that there was no one in the car when they arrived, no other cars either. Someone reported the crash but no one was here by the time they arrived"

"And they didn't see anything?"

"Apparently not"

"Could Kate possibly try to go back to the town after the crash?"

"I highly doubt it, plus there remains the question: what did she crash with? She's a very good driver so crashing like this on her own is very unlikely…something else happened here"

The midnight black Mustang stood a few meters away from them on the dirt on the side of the road, scanner tracking slowly as he too analyzed all the information he was gathering, he contacted his driver through his earpiece "Michael, we have a problem"

"What did you find KITT?" as KITT spoke to him Sarah approached the two, just in time to see Mike's face pale considerably. Both asked him what had KITT found and the answer had them both frozen in place

"KITT just found KARR's tracks…"

Going over their initial shock the three set themselves to work, they arranged to have the CRV picked up and transported back to base while they spend a few more minutes asking questions to the people around, that being done the two drivers climbed back on KITT as Matt got in KIRA's passenger's side

"Let's go KIRA, we have much to do"

The AI turned on her engine and took off after KITT, heading back home, Matt noticed how the Mustang was unnaturally quiet, curious, he decided to ask her about it.

"KIRA? You doing okay?"

there was a moment of silence "I should have gone with her..."

"you were receiving an upgrade, you couldn't go. It's not your fault if that's what you're thinking..."

once again there was silence from the AI

"We are going to find her and bring her back safely, don't worry"

She really needed to focus on some way to get out of there or at least to send a message back to base, that was her priority right now. With some effort she started to look around the room for anything she could use to open the door yet as she managed to stand up using the wall for support the door swung open and three men entered, two looked like the ones that had brought her to the room, behind them stood the same guy from her encounter back south on her last mission but the one that entered the room she couldn't recognize. The guy turned to the guards and instructed them to close the door behind him, he looked at the young woman who was struggling to stand up straight due to her injuries.

"Katherine Knight, it is a pleasure to finally meet you"

"I'm sorry do I know you?"

"No, and you won't either. How are you feeling?"

She took a sarcastic tone "like I was hit by a train, you should know."

"Funny enough some would say that's not too far from the truth"

"What do you want"

"Oh don't worry about that, I don't want much, from you anyways"

"Then why did you brought me here?"

"Well I could tell you...but that would ruin the surprise"

"Surprise?"

"It would be better for your friend KITT to be here don't you think?"

He knew about KITT? "How do you know about him…?"

"Let's just say I'm not working alone" he took notice of how she kept little to no weight on one of her legs "Looks like you could use some help"

She looked away from him "I don't need any help from you…"

He shrugged "Suit yourself then" turning around he knocked on the door, his men outside opened it to let him through before locking it and leaving with him.

She was completely at a loss of words, that guy knew her name and about KITT, he probably knew much more too that she didn't know. he also said he was not working along, what was that supposed to mean?! who was he working with and why exactly did he needed her?

She limped towards the bed and laid down, exhausted, but didn't really want to go to sleep with that freak around the building...she really needed to find a way to contact base, and fast.

KITT and KIRA arrived back at base to find even more activity than when they left, people still working on the upgrades for the AIs and some others working to find out where had Katie been taken. Instantly Matt told the rest of his group what they had found back at the crash site and everyone then scrambled to get to work.

The following couple of days melded together in constant work on both the AIs and to try and find where had Katherine been take to, they had no clue to start working with and only knowing that KARR had been around the area at the time of the accident only rose not only the driver's parents' uneasiness but the AIs' as well. Then there was also the thing that the corrupted AI wasn't working alone, they knew now that he had been involved with the group that Kate had tried to infiltrate before, the ones trying to get information on the two AIs, so they started working from there; if they hadn't been the once behind them then at least they had to be related in some way.

After a more detailed analysis of the crash the group was able to reconstruct what had happened with the AIs' help, along with that the team that had been sent to pick up the car and bring it back to base had seen what could possibly be blood on the side window which leaded them to believe that Katherine was most likely heavily injured.

Knowing this did nothing to help the black and blue Mustang's fears but it did push them and the rest of the people in the complex to search faster from the few clues that they had managed to get since the day of the accident. By using the signal KITT had managed to get from KARR back when he and KIRA had their run in with him not long ago he had managed to trace some of it and isolated a general direction in which him and the other cars that had been with him at the time of the crash had driven off in, hopefully shortening their search time even more.

As most of the complex was focusing on searching for the AI's driver a few select people had been selected to keep working on the missing upgrades for the AIs so that when they got a location the two could go there fast and waste no time, rather absentmindedly the cars took the upgrades and updates as they worked on the search, only ever so slightly going through what was being uploaded into them simply to store it in its proper place for when it was needed; at this pace the possible location was getting smaller and smaller every few hours which, with some luck, would give them Katherine's location before the end of the week. The real game had just begun…


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four**

 **This is war**

It was near the four-day mark after Katherine's disappearance, the techs and AIs still couldn't get a proper location as to where had they taken her and the lack of sleep combined with the constant stress had managed to keep most people far from the best of moods. Both AIs where using all their resourced to try and get a proper location or at least something that would narrow the search area further and lead them to where she was; they knew KARR was behind all this and they knew the people he was working with as well thanks to KIRA and Kate's discovery during their last mission but they had already sent a team back to where they had first met and there was no one there, they hadn't even left a clue as to where they could've possibly gone to, leaving the group with no more clues to follow.

Noah and Sydney had finally come up with a new Nano-skin coating for the AIs using and alloy of Magnesium and Beryllium, both very strong and light metals, none of them where as strong as the Tungsten KARR had, at least not alone but combined they created a very strong alloy and because both metals where relatively light they didn't add much weight which meant they didn't need to sacrifice power for strength.

It had taken them half a day almost to spray both AIs and the effect of the new coating besides the added strength was a very metallic look, not like the normal almost imperceptible sparkly look, but a very noticeable shine that reflected a subtle silver-blue-ish color with the light.

Another team leaded by Ryder had installed new lighter and more powerful weapons on the Mustangs of which amongst them also remained some upgraded mechanical functions such as a new spear hook similar to the one KARR had, the only difference was that this one could release an electric charge on command.

They also had a new passive shield over the protective Nano-skin with the Magnesium-Beryllium cover that allowed them to activate an electric cover, which practically was an electricity layer that could protect the entire car without damaging it, the thing with this was that the systems that controlled it where located just behind the back bumper, which made it highly susceptible to being deactivated with a well-placed hit.

Another of the upgrades was a new stronger EMP that had a larger range, normally it would be risky to install something like that when KITT and KIRA remained in range of each other's EMPs but because it was set to a specific frequency both Mustangs where immune to each other's blast; Connor had made a stronger firewall software and internal defense software to avoid any chances of being hacked, just in case, if someone wanted to hack any of these computers they would need to work their heads off to even break the first half of the new encryption codes...all in all they were ready to face whatever came in their way, the only thing they were missing was finding the missing driver…

Katherine had been stuck to her room for the last few days, with the light of the day she could finally see what was outside of the hangar but the small size of her opening didn't let her see much; some mountains in the distance and a grassy hill with some trees close by. Where in the world was she? One thing was for sure, she knew that her family and friends back at base where more than likely trying to get to her in some way and she needed to find a way to send them a message or signal to make their work easier and her rescue quicker.

Half hopping from the window back to the small bed she laid facing the roof, feeling something on her pants' back pocket, sitting back up she reached inside only to pull out her phone…her phone! Why hadn't they take it away from her before now? More importantly how had she not noticed it was there before?!

Her dark blue case was broken so she ended up removing it completely, the screen was cracked and it was dented on the back, most likely from the crash, leaving the on button pressed down for a few seconds she stared at the dark screen for what felt like an eternity until a white logo appeared on the otherwise dark screen 'YES!' the screen flickered and then went off, causing her to throw several profanities low enough to escape any possible passerby's ears. She pressed down the button again and the screen turned on, it stayed on the same screen for a few seconds before asking for her passcode and shutting down once more.

Being careful enough to avoid being spotted by the passing guards she carefully cracked open the already broken back of the device and exposed the tiny cables and circuitry, one of the smaller chips had been cracked and another one was loose which meant that she either found a way to fix it or she would have to find another way of sending a signal. Hopping over to her jacket she was lucky enough to find a pin in one of her pockets, that helped her set the loose chip back in its proper place but she still needed to find a way to fix the one that was cracked; almost as if in response to her thinking of a solution she remembered the earpiece that she used to normally communicate with KIRA, getting the tiny device out of her ear she carefully cracked it and extracted two of the chips that had a similar function to the one she needed to replace.

The replacement chips were about half the size of the one she needed to replace but by using part of the cables on the earpiece she managed to interconnect them to hopefully boost them enough to work as a proper replacement. Settling her new contraption in place she turned on the phone again and waited for it to power up properly, once again it turned and asked for her passcode which she was able to input without the phone dying.

Through the broken screen she navigated through her phone until she got to what she was looking for, crossing her fingers she typed the number she had known by heart for the last eight years; a few rings went by until an all too familiar voice came from the other end…

"Katherine?"

"KIRA!"

upon hearing her driver's voice the AI kicked into overdrive, internally telling KITT to inform the others "Katherine where are you? are you all right?"

"I-I don't know where I am, I was knocked out all the way here and I can't tell much from what I've been able to see. I've got a few cuts and bruises on my arm from the crash and…I think I broke my leg as well…"

The black and blue Mustang's core dropped, broken leg? Their rescue attempt had just gotten a whole lot harder… "Kate no matter what happens keep this line open, we're working on tracking your signal"

"I don't know how much longer I ca keep it, just barely managed to fix my phone enough to make a call"

"Do you have any idea who kidnaped you?"

"No…but the guy leading the group that wanted you guys' information is here, I can only guess KARR might be around as well"

"We figured that much, KITT found his tracks on the crash site"

"KIRA…I'm scared…I need you"

"Don't worry Katherine, we're getting you out of there…I promise"

suddenly the call was filled with static and KIRA could just barely make out her driver's voice "Kate? Katherine!" this lasted for a few seconds before they lost the line completely "I've lost her signal"

"Already working on it" Matt scrambled to his computer as everyone else on the room quickened the pace to get the final touches on the AIs' upgrades, their time had ran out now…

Since she lost her signal KIRA's processor was all over the place, her already worried thoughts about her driver had just skyrocketed after she told her about her injuries but the thing that really did it was the way he talked to her; she had never heard her driver this way before, it was like she was almost pleading her to go for her after she admitted that she was scared…it was all jus so unlike her normal self.

About five minutes had gone by since the signal was lost and KITT noticed the other AI's internal turmoil through their link but honestly at this stage he couldn't blame her, this was her driver and she was still unexperienced with this type of situation unlike himself; not that he wasn't worried about his driver's daughter but he had managed to bring down his emotions in these scenarios to a point in which it allowed him to see things more objectively. Partly lost in his own attempts at pinpointing the signal he nearly missed a new message just barely stuck on his firewall, a very poorly encrypted message to be precise.

Within seconds he broke the encryption and was met with coordinates for latitude and longitude that once mapped he noticed were within the area they had isolated to trace the call. He was unable to identify the sender so he was debating whether to trust it or not so instead he started to trace the message to its origin point; in doing that he was soon met by a much heavier encryption, one even himself would have trouble breaking down…only one other thing besides him and KIRA could have such a complex encryption level…

The scattered pieces of electronics around the bent and twisted case were all that was left after Katherine lost her connection to KIRA and threw her already broken phone against the far wall of the room in frustration, she didn't care if anyone outside had heard the ruckus it caused or not and she hoped that as short as the call had been that it had given KIRA enough information to know where she was. She sat down on the bed with her back against the wall, folding her good leg towards her chest and leaving her injured leg stretched out she crossed her arms and looked out the window on the other side of the room, the sun was high up so she guessed it was somewhere around midday. 'please hurry KIRA…'

"Michael"

the ex-army ranger turned from the computer he and Sarah were working on and turned to the midnight black Mustang behind him "Got anything KITT?"

"I received an encoded message containing coordinates that are within the area we had isolated from the call"

"Message? From who"

"I could not find the direct sender, I did however track it to its origin point and was stopped by a heavy encryption"

"What kind of heavy encryption?"

"One not much unlike my own"

"…KARR"

Sarah then turned to look at Mike, glancing at the AI as she spoke "It's a trap…"

"Of course it's a trap, but what choice do we have?"

"You can't seriously be thinking about going out there and doing what they say"

"It's our daughter out there Sarah!"

"I know!" she took a deep breath "but we have to think of something, it's too dangerous"

"We don't have a choice, I'm going to get ready to leave while the last touches on the cars are done" turning around Mike walked off into one of the hallways, Matt running after him seconds later.

After about an hour both AIs were shooting out through the mountain road in attack mode, heading for the given location, Mike sat with KITT up front while KIRA drove behind them, Matt sitting on the passenger's seat. It was a five and a half hour drive to the location for the two Mustangs, they knew KARR was going to be there and that the two would be too occupied with him to be able to search for Katherine so instead they would drop off their human charges at the edge of the place's perimeter and go in themselves while they found another way in to try and sneak Katherine out while they work as a diversion, after all, who doesn't want to see the three most advanced AIs in the world in a deadly demolition derby right?

About ten minutes away from their destination the two cars stopped and Mike and Matthew climbed out rather reluctantly, they discussed their plan and the cars took off, leaving them behind to walk the rest of the way up the hill to the warehouse.

The two black Mustangs stopped at the edge of the large double doors, waiting for them to open and reveal what laid inside, it took about a minute but when they did open they were met with a wide open area with another set of smaller double doors at the end, in front of them stood the matte black Mustang that was KARR, his amber scanner tracking quickly in anticipation.

KITT and KIRA drove inside, stopping when the doors behind them started to close, sealing the three AIs in an enclosed space with no way out. KITT tried scanning the area but he couldn't see or detect anything out of the room they were in, guards with high powered guns lined the overlook over the secondary doors at the back above KARR and a one-way glass panel remained on the wall above that.

"Stay close KIRA, we're outnumbered and we don't know what their plan is. Were you able to get anything out of your scans?"

"No, something is blocking them"

from the sides rushed out several more men carrying similar guns to the ones on the overlook, as they took their place at the back. KARR moved forwards into the light, displaying his newly acquired attack mode which gave him a rear win not much unlike KITT's along with double air intakes on his sides and a look similar to a widebody; he approached them then, stopping when he was just about three car lengths away from the other two Mustangs.

KARR looked at the black and blue Mustang, the electric blue stripes on her sides almost glowing under the white light "I was hoping you'd come alone KITT, it would have made things easier on the both of us"

"You took her driver, she had every right to come"

"Was it her driver? I thought she was the other AI's driver, considering she was driving a regular car when we got her instead of one of you two; what was her name again? KIFT?"

KARR was clearly teasing KITT, he could see his ploy had worked on the slight change of the speed his twin's scanner was tracking at as well as the subtle deepening of the engine's sound, the younger AI had a similar change.

KITT had to restrain himself from ramming KARR square in the nose for that one, he was playing a dangerous game and he would make sure to let him know, he detected the change on KIRA's demeanor as well and he had to quickly calm her down through their link before she launched straight for him.

KARR then continued, ever so slightly inching closer towards them "I'm sure you remember right KITT? The smoke in the air, the sound of a dying engine-"

Okay, that. Was. it! in a flash KITT shot forwards and rammed KARR up front just as bullets rained from above, he paid them no mind as he pushed his twin back, amber and ruby scanners tracking in a rush.

Katherine was laying on the bed looking blankly at the ceiling, thinking about any other possible way to either get out or communicate with her friends, partly she wished she hadn't thrown her phone against a wall earlier. She heard the main door close but she was already used to hearing it lately and she paid it no mind.

For some more minutes everything was silent until a loud crash, followed by gun shots, broke the silence; Struggling against her injuries she limped towards the window and struggled to see what was over to the side, with her face against the glass she was barely able to make out what looked like KITT pushing KARR's side and KIRA knocking over boxes and small structures to knock out the men firing at them. looking closely she could tell that there was no one inside KITT or KIRA so they had either come alone or there was more to their plan that she could tell. She really needed to take this distraction to her advantage and find a way to escape, with or without help.

The warehouse was complete chaos wooden boxes laid turned over or in pieces all over the place as some men were knocked out on the floor, the few that remained both n the overlook and down where scrambling back into the building for cover from any stray bullets that could come from the AIs as things really started to heat up between them.

Even with the modifications and upgrades received it was hard for KITT and KIRA to keep up with KARR, their new defenses where really blocking out KARR's impacts and deflecting his bullets. KIRA had managed to scare off the few remaining men shooting at them and was now helping KITT with the rogue AI, who was still in his vehicle mode.

KARR's patience was running short now, he couldn't believe he was having this much trouble with his brother even though he had been receiving continuous updates for his software and body, yet here he was being pushed back by him; in an outburst he pulled away from him and turned around to shoot his spear hook, managing to pierce KITT 's kick plate and getting a hold of his rear axle. KITT kept accelerating as KARR reversed and made the cable stretch as far as it could go, KIRA noticed and she aimed her laser at it. Snapping it and letting KITT free, He spun out of balance for a few seconds and ended up facing KARR as the younger AI drove over by his side and revved her engine in challenge.

"KITT are you all right?"

"I'm fine, how are you holding up?"

"shields are still over sixty percent, how about you?"

"primary shields are down to forty percent of their capacity now, we're going to have to start pushing on him soon If we want to get the upper hand" about four car lengths away KARR revved his engine in challenge, the sound resonating on the cavernous space "We wait for him to make the next move, when he is close enough I want you to activate your electric shields"

Overlooking the unfolding scene, a group of techs alongside the man that had greeted Katherine earlier as well as the one she faced on the south stood watching through the reinforced glass, watching the cars' every move; the latter spoke first "What are they waiting for?"

"They are waiting for KARR to make the next move" he turned to look at him "This rivalry has been going on for years and it goes deeper than you could ever imagine, he's been waiting for years to have his revenge at the expense of a few failed attempts…too bad he's never going to get it"

"Do we activate to pulse now then?"

"No…let them fight"

"We are wasting time here, you think their people back at base aren't planning something?"

"I'm counting on it, let them fight, I want to see what these other two have under their sleeve first…give them another ten minutes, then activate the pulse. Ready the tows and get your techs down to the holding bay and get it ready to receive our new guests"

The man left with the larger bunch of the techs, leaving the suited man alone as he looked down at the three Mustangs "I've waited for this for way too long…they laughed and called me crazy but after tonight I'll be the one laughing…I'll be the one on top…"

The three cars stood without moving for what seemed like an eternity until KARR practically jumped forwards as his tires fought for traction to gain sped at impossible rates. KITT and KIRA mimicked his actions and turned on their electric shields; a blue hue engulfed them in heat as white bolts and strings of electricity ran through their sides, crackling around them and occasionally running through the ground.

the AIs sped towards each other with no signs of turning away up until just before clashing KARR jumped over them as he unfolded into his robot self and turned around to face them as he brought one of his claws down to swipe at them. Upon hitting them there was a shower of sparks and KARR took a step back after the shock from their electric shields, he regained himself afterwards and stared at them as they regained themselves from his own blow.

KITT and KIRA skidded to a halt after KARR's hit, turning around to be once again face to face with him. One of his claw-like hands transformed into a laser gun and aimed at them along with the guns mounted on his shoulders and the rockets on his sides, KITT reached for his internal link with the black and blue Mustang as he thought of a strategy to help them.

"We need to try and deactivate his guns, I can draw fire to myself while you go around behind him and use your EMP to try and at least weaken him enough to make a move"

"Are you sure this is going to work?"

"No, not completely anyway but it's a chance we have to take. Hopefully Michael and Matt managed to get close to Katherine by now. Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be"

KARR started shooting the two Mustangs then only provoking KITT to fire his own weapons in response, shattering missiles in midair and deflecting some of the bullets. KIRA moved around the fire and drifted off around KARR releasing her EMP just as KARR fired one of his last missiles as his weapons were disabled, the last missile flew through the smoke avoiding being seen by KITT and successfully hitting him, sending him skidding around for a few meters KARR turned around to face KIRA.

Stunned by the strong hit KITT quickly performed a self-diagnostic only to find out that his electric shield had been disabled 'great…' only when the smoke started to clear out did he noticed that KARR had a hold of KIRA with one of his hands, panic overcame him as he finally decided to use his newly upgraded attack mode as he charged towards KARR, quickly gaining speed before turbo boosting into him and knocking him down to the ground to effectively release KIRA.

KITT landed on top of KARR as he fell to the floor and before he could angle himself to jump off he felt KARR's claw fall on his roof just before he lost contact with the ground.

KARR half stood up as he threw KITT to the other side of the room where he hit the wall with his side before sliding down and falling back onto all his four wheels. The robot once again folded back onto his vehicle form and charged at him only to be stopped by a considerably strong hit on his side. Before he could do anything to regain himself he slowly felt his systems fading away before being completely shut down.

Seeing KARR's scanner flicker and die mid spin KITT and KIRA looked at each other just as they too starter to get warning signals of failing systems, their engines were the first to die off followed closely by all other primary and secondary systems until all they had access to were their sensory systems, whatever EMP they had used on them had failed to shut them down completely but it had done just enough to render them helpless against whoever remained inside the building.

Matt had stayed behind while Mike took the lead, they had managed to sneak into the building through an unsecured back door and following the sounds they ended up on a side room from which they were able to see the carnage going on in the main open space of the warehouse where the tree AIs were fighting. Matt remained frozen to the window as he saw KITT throw himself at KARR to free KIRA from his grasp, quickly KARR held KITT by the roof and threw him across the room where after tumbling he crashed against the wall on his side.

KARR folded back down and started to speed towards KITT but the younger AI rammed him on his side before he could reach him, sending him spinning to the side where he noticed that even after stopping the oldest of the AIs remained unmoving, KITT and KIRA were standing still as well and he wondered for a second what had happened before from somewhere out of view came three large trucks accompanied by a team of what looked like techs who, when reaching the AIs, set themselves to hooking them up to them. He had called Mike by then and the two were looking at the three Mustangs being dragged out of sight, the two had one thing in mind that bothered them after witnessing that and it was the fact that they had also taken KARR with them so either he was getting fixed or there was something sketchy going on.

They needed to find Katherine and get to their AIs, and fast.

KIRA internally glanced at KITT when she felt herself moving, she could tell he was as uneasy as she was by what was happening.

Getting closer to her link with him she finally asked "What happened?"

"I don't know KIRA…they released some sort of EMP attempting to shut us down but thanks to our last upgrades and adjustments it didn't manage to shut us out completely like it did to KARR"

"What do we do now?

"We really can't do much, but I believe the don't know that we are not completely shut down and it would be better if it remained that way for as long as we can. Remain alert for anything, when your systems come back keep them down and make sure your scanner's off, we will still be able to hear and see what they are doing even then"

"What are they going to do with us?"

"I do not know…tell me when you have your systems back"

"Are we going to fight back?"

"Not unless it's completely necessary. We have to keep a low profile if we want to give Mike and Matthew a bigger window to rescue Katherine, we can keep their attention here"

The three tows worked quickly, the secondary double doors opened the three Mustangs were dragged inside. She wouldn't admit it really, but KIRA couldn't help the feeling of fear that had settled in the back of her processor, she never liked strangers going over her systems and equipment yet here she was being dragged somewhere she couldn't see.

After a few minutes the tows stopped and the AIs were released from them, KITT and KIRA felt their restrains being removed and cursed their inability to reactivate their engine just yet; KARR was already set on a platform connected to three separate computers, one next to his front left fender and two others on either side of his back fenders. KITT and KIRA were settled on the two other identical platforms next to him and secured using a magnetic mechanism that was not too much unlike the ones they had back at base.

"KIRA?" The AI in question turned to her link "I have my systems back now, do you?"

the black and blue Mustang reached into her core for the 'switch' and sure enough her dimly lit surroundings lit up in white lights as she regained control of herself. Immediately accessing her exterior cameras, she saw herself between KITT and KARR on a platform, techs were walking about with computers and tools amongst other things.

The two AIs' attention suddenly shifted to the car on the far left as KARR came back online with a growl, obviously not very happy about his present situation. His scanner was tracking back and forth at a fast pace as he struggled to break free, only managing to spin his wheels uselessly on the floor's sleek surface.

From the door on the far right of the room came in a suited man, followed by two guards as the room fell into silence except for KARR's idle engine; techs walked over to the presumably off-lined AIs so realizing their cover would most likely be blown by now they turned on their scanners, letting them track slowly to betray their internal conflict.

The suited man saw this and looked over at the techs, just as he was going to speak however another growl from KARR caused all eyes to fall on him.

"You betrayed me!"

"I did what had to be done"

"We had a deal"

"well then I'm afraid to tell you that our deal just expired" he turned and walked to the station in front of KARR

"You just used me!"

"And it took you this long to realize? I thought you were supposed to be one of the greatest AIs out there" he glanced at the other two cars "Guess you are, after all, inferior to these two"

KARR's engine growled louder "This was now what we had agreed on!"

"You really thought I was helping you? No KARR, YOU were helping ME"

"You wanted revenge on the government"

"and I will get it, the whole plan about you getting your payback was just a smaller part of my plan, I needed all the technological resources available and yours were not enough so when you mentioned these other two I just couldn't say no. it was all just what I needed to complete my research and get my real revenge on Knight Industries turned FLAG"

"Why do you seek revenge upon them?" this time it was KITT speaking

"that" he turned around and walked over to be in front of the midnight black Mustang "is not something you need to know, Knight three thousand. The only thing you need to know" he kneeled down to be at eye level with him "is that if you don't cooperate things won't get pretty" a low growl formed in the Mustang's engine in response to the threat.

standing back up he gave the techs the all clear, stopping at the door he called to one of them and KITT was just barely able to make out what they whispered to each other "Start the download and infiltration, we can't lose any more time"

"What about KARR?"

"Start with him, we already have some of his programing, it'll make it easier. The other two I'm sure will be putting up much more of a fight"

The techs started to walk around the three AIs as soon as he left the room, one of them stopped at the computer that was next to KARR while another came in carrying a cable the he hooked up to the computer; he took the other end and approached KARR, he stretched out his hands to try to open the hood but was stopped by KARR's menacing growl before he could even get close to him.

He exchanged looks with the tech at the computer who in turn typed in some commands that after a little while were met by the clicking sound of the hood release.

He did everything he could to stop the hacker from accessing his systems, throwing block after block to stop him but it was useless in the end, he had worked with them before for his upgrades and they needed some of his access codes to install them so there was no use for him

to fight back, he was a literal open book for them and there was nothing he could do other than make their work as hard as possible and by god was he going to make sure they had no easy feat with him.

KITT and KIRA looked worryingly at each other when they saw how easily it had been for the tech to hack into KARR's software, if they had managed to break through him that easily there wasn't much hope for them when it came to making time for Mike and Matt; they were in trouble, lots of it, and KITT could see the fast pace at which the black and blue Mustang's scanner tracked back and forth. She was nervous and even maybe scared at the uncertainty of their situation and he couldn't blame her, he himself was still trying to come up with a strategy to make some time and defend themselves.

They had already gained access to KARR's software and if they knew what they were doing they could use his systems to hack into them in less time since despite their obvious difference in programing and personality the three still shared the same basic core program structure.

While thinking of a strategy KITT decided to go over what systems he had available, half way through his check he paused and turned to his link with KIRA

"KIRA?"

"yes?"

"Have you checked your weapons systems?"

"Why? The platforms are blocking them"

"Check again"

"…they are…active?"

"These platforms were designed based off of KARR's programing, not ours, they didn't take into account our latest upgrades so the device can't block our advanced functions…don't expose yourself if it's not necessary, we don't need them knowing we have access to more systems then they know of. are your electric shields still working?"

"They are"

"In that case keep it ready, activate it only if any of the techs try and get to your physical components"

"I will"

"This is not okay…"

"Matt there are many things around here that are not okay, what do you mean exactly?"

"I mean that our time to find Katherine AND get the KITT and KIRA out is running out even faster than I thought"

"Why is that?"

"Because there is something so wrong about this, they took KARR as well after that pulse, I don't think they're working with him anymore…if they had already gained access to KARR for his upgrades then it's only a matter of time until they break him down and use his own core programing to get access to KITT and KIRA"

"What about the last upgrades that were implemented, the security measures"

"They might slow them down but I highly doubt that will stop them"

"Well…if that's the case we better hurry, when we find Katherine I'll be taking her back through here, you stay around and try to reach KITT or KIRA and help them out, that's the only chance we're going to have at beating these guys"

Matt nodded and both started to walk away from the room they had been hiding, being careful to check that there was no one around and avoid camera detection.

After a while of sneaking about they came across a single room on a hallway that had two guards posted outside, they could only guess what was so important they needed to keep under such protection; things were about to get interesting…

So far things were not much better for the AIs, the techs were making quick progress on KARR by the late night hours and one of them had already moved over to the computer connected to KIRA's station; as It had happened with KARR another cable was brought in, one end plugged into the front computer and the other ready to be plugged in to one of her core's ports on the engine compartment. The tech with the other end eyed the car suspiciously, taking note of the quickened pace of the scanner before taking a step closer, not knowing that would trigger the car's electric shield.

With the loud snap of current all the techs near KIRA jumped back at the sudden release of charge that now engulfed the car as white bolts cracked and snapped around the car, creating an impenetrable barrier, next to her KITT brought his engine back on with a deep growl that made the techs around him jump in surprise as he continued to rev his engine furiously.

KARR had to admit the scene had taken him by surprise as well, he realized then that while he was virtually defenseless the other two had means of defending themselves and maybe even escaping, this knowledge made his processor kick in to start trying to figure out any possible way to escape, revenge and fighting were no longer on his mind, the only thing he wanted to do now was escape, save himself from this one-way path that could only lead to eventual deactivation.

All the techs where surprised, to say the least, why wasn't the continuous pulse of the platform blocking the car's electric shields? they were the ones that worked for days on getting the exact frequency for the platforms for them to match KARR's and if it matched his then it would surely match these two new AIs...right?

Their boss was sure to return within the hour and they needed to have some progress done, if the black and blue Mustang was going to be this opposing then they would have to move on the next car. The tech at KIRA's platform stepped back as the others around her moved to be around KITT, the Mustang revved his engine in an attempt to somehow manage to keep the techs away; KIRA remained with her shields activated and KARR was fuming with rage as he stood with his open hood watching KITT's efforts of defending himself, apparently either he did not have the ability the younger AI had or it had malfunctioned somehow.

KITT kept doing everything he could to keep them away without revealing his weapons, he kept revving his engine loudly with a deep growls keeping the techs at bay for the most part, while doing that he kept internally fighting off the hacker in the computer next to him; he was throwing blocks after blocks to keep the hacker out, he was successfully keeping him from breaking his first firewall and it was now that he was incredibly grateful for his new internal system defense update.

All of the techs where really starting to get to their breaking point, they couldn't even get the hood open on the midnight black Mustang, another shot from the EMP would most likely do the trick at least for the time being so two techs left the room only to come back minutes later with a circular, flat device carried between both. KITT once again tried to simply scare them off but it didn't seem to be working this time around KITT's last resource was to try and move backwards and away from the device as they approached but just as KARR had earlier he only managed to uselessly spin his wheels on the sleek floor, trapped by the magnetic force of the platform.

With nothing else available for him to do to defend himself he had no other option but to reveal his weapons, he didn't want to leave KIRA in the dark, especially on their current situation, but he noticed too late that the EMP device they were carrying towards him was already turned on and steadily emitting its pulse, his systems remained operational but they were incredibly slow to respond now; he pushed them to react to the command of bringing up his guns but by now he guessed that he had waited a moment too late to try and save himself, the last thing he remembered was the feeling of his side launchers opening on command just before the device was on him, sending him into a dark void…

The deployed launchers on either side of the car made some of the techs scramble off for cover just as the ruby red scanner went dark and the car's engine died once more, after regaining themselves and making sure the car was deactivated they opened the hood with ease and plugged in the computer in order to start the process of downloading the AI's data. Seeing this was as much as they were going to get for progress the techs left the computers on the two older AI running the download as they left to work on what would be the beginning of phase two of the plan. A single guard was posted outside the room and the three cars were left to their own.

Matt and Mike waited on an adjacent room until the shift change for the guard to leave, they knew Katherine was in that room from overhearing radio chatter from the guards so the moment one of them left Mike swiftly took down the one remaining guard, Matt moved in then and in mere minutes picked the lock and opened the door to see Katherine half leaning on a wall on the side of the room, seeing her father and friend Kate threw herself over them in relief.

"Oh god I'm so glad you guys are here"

Mike hugged his daughter before stepping back to look at her "we need to get out out of here and get some medical attention fast"

"Where are KITT and KIRA, I heard them before but then the sounds suddenly stopped"

"They…got caught, we're working on it"

"We need to get them out of here fast!"

"We know, Matt is going to take care of that while I get you out of here and KITT and KIRA will pick us up where they dropped us off earlier"

"I am not leaving her here dad, I'm going with Matt go get her"

"Katherine you are in no condition to be running around, if you get caught you two will have no chances. I promise you'll be back with her soon but please for now just come with me, let's get out of here"

Reluctantly Katherine had no choice but to go with what Mike had said, he was right but she really didn't want to admit it. Mike took off the way him and Matt had come from with Katherine, helping her carry her own weight to keep her injured leg from causing any more damage; Matt sneaked around the complex back towards the main area where him and Mike had seen the three AIs earlier in hopes of getting at least a clue as to where exactly they had been taken.

He wondered around the place for a while longer until he saw a group of techs come out of a room, a single guard remained at the door and he could only guess what was in that room that had required so many techs to be working around. He waited until the guard was distracted enough to go around the corner and knock him down with a blow to the head; shaking his hand as he admired his successful takedown he cracked open the door slowly to make sure there really was no one left inside.

Sure enough as he had hoped the three Mustangs were in the room, instantly he locked the door behind him and stood looking at the cars; on the far end of the room was KARR, hood open and scanner tracking at a quick pace, KITT was the closest to him as he stood with his hood open and his scanner dark which worried him. KIRA remained between both with her electric shield activated, as soon as she saw him she instantly deactivated it as the young tech ran over to the cars.

"KIRA!"

"Matt I thought you and Mike were supposed to be searching for Katherine"

"We found her already, Mike is probably already out of here with her by now" he walked over to KITT "What happened to him, why is he off line?"

"They placed an EMP device on his side to gain access to him, you need to disconnect him from the computer and take off the device, fast"

Matt leaned down into KITT's engine compartment to reach for the cable "What did they want from you guys?"

"They are downloading his data, I assume that they might want to reverse engineer it and make their own versions"

"Well that doesn't sound too good" he unplugged the cable from the Mustang and closed his hood, moving to the side to remove the EMP device.

The black Mustang's scanner lit up instantly as it tracked in a rush as his engine came to life, Matt then moved over to the front of the car.

"Easy KITT, It's me, I'm going to get the two of you out of here"

"Have you found Katherine?"

"yeah Mike is with her, they should reach our meeting point shortly so we better hurry up. I doubt whoever is leading this whole thing doesn't know that I'm here by now…" he started to go through the computer to try and find a way to deactivate the platforms and set them free but after a few minutes it became clear that he would not have the time to work through it at this rate. "I can't find the kill switch for this thing" in the distance he could just now make out what sounded like an alarm going off, their time had ran out "just great…"

"Matt"

the guy turned to the black and blue Mustang "you got something?"

"I have been working on breaking the encryption from my platform, if you help me it'll be faster and I will be able to free KITT from it as well"

he moved over to the computer next to her "ok what do you need"

Just when he was starting to think that maybe the other two were just as stuck as he was this guy came into the room and started helping them, barely acknowledging his presence as he did so, he knew now for sure that if he didn't manage to free himself now then it would be the end for sure. He highly doubted the guy would as much as come close to him, asking for assistance was out of the question so all he could do now was devote the rest of his resources to fighting against his own programing as it kept him locked into the platform.

An alarm was set off not long after KITT was brought back online, people were sure to start pouring in any minute, guns blazing so thanks to their reckless actions his own time had been cut short as well. His amber scanner slowed it's pace as he devoted all of this focus on breaking what was basically his own encryption, progress was being made slowly and a part of him knew he did not have enough time to free himself yet his own self-preservation program shoved the thought away to keep him focused on trying to escape; he had to make it, it was either that or near certain annihilation and he couldn't allow that…he would not allow it.

Matt typed furiously on the keyboard as he watched the progress bar climbing fast, people were already on the other side of the door he had locked and were attempting to break it down with some success, KITT and KIRA's scanners tracked back and forth quickly in agitation just as the double doors started to open and gunshots rang through the room, some bouncing off of the three cars' specialized shells. Ducking to avoid a few shots he was able to get back to work when KITT brought up his hood mounted gun and started to create cover fire for him, successfully scattering the people trying to get to them.

"Matt go out the side door and meet with Mike and Katherine, we'll be there in a few more minutes"

"KIRA I can't leave you guys here, especially not now that we've been discovered"

"I'll handle the rest of the encryption; I should be able to get it in the time that you manage to lead these people away"

"Are you sure about it?"

"I am" another storm of bullets reached them as KITT's ammo ran out then "go, now!"

Matt took off for the side door closest to KARR, running through the hallways until he found a place to hide to let the guards that were after him run by to allow him to go back the way he had come in through with Mike. He really hoped that KIRA was sure of what she was saying because if she wasn't then his attempts at helping the AIs escape would've been for nothing and they would all be facing a whole lot more trouble to even try to reach them by then…

This was starting to get ridiculous now, it had been a few minutes now since Matt had left with the guards chasing him and KIRA had been working on the last patch of security to access her platform for most of her time now, this one patch seemed to be way stronger than the other ones she had broken down and she was really starting to worry about the time she would have before things went south again. The speed at which she was breaking through the last barrier was an insult to her capabilities and despite everything KARR couldn't help but smirk, it was amusing for him to see the occasional fit she threw with barely audible growls from her engine, her scanner tracking quickly back and forth. This was just too fun to watch.

"Having fun?"

KIRA didn't answer, letting a sigh escape through her vents she slumped down on her suspension before continuing to annoyingly work her way through the patch.

"What is it that is giving you so much trouble anyway"

she looked at the older AI besides him "Nothing that you need to know about"

"I thought you would've gone through that by now"

it was then that KIRA decided to just ignore him and keep working on the computer, this small talk was a waste of her time and she had places to go to.

Silence returned to the room with only the alarm blearing on the distance, KARR had returned to fully focusing on breaking the encryption for himself them when a barely audible hum came from besides him; turning his attention back to the outside he saw the computer hooked up to the younger AI's platform had gone dark, even from his place he could tell that his twin was just as surprised as he was.

Temptingly KIRA slowly reversed out of the platform with ease looking smugly at KARR, who now was staring dumbfounded at her after witnessing her struggling against the program minutes earlier. Unbeknown to the two of them KITT had been working since his reactivation on hacking the outside double doors, he was very close to gaining access to them and since the smaller set of double doors that separated this room from the main area had been left open the main doors were the only thing between them and freedom.

Going around KITT KIRA started to ram the computer connected to him continuously until it went off in sparks, with that destroyed KITT was able to slip out of the platform just as easily as she had done before. From the outside he then detected more people heading in their direction so they had probably figured out that they had broken the encryption. Both him and KIRA remained at the edge of the room's double doors anxiously waiting for the main doors to grant them access; when KITT finally broke through the encryption both of them shot out and started to head out towards freedom to meet Mike, Matt and Katherine at their set meeting point.

KITT looked behind him as they took off, KARR had now completely given up on hacking his platform and was now simply spinning his wheels in one last attempt at freeing himself, he guessed that his self-preservation programing had finally taken priority and it was causing him to essentially panic. He looked back in front of him to KIRA and the double doors, they had stopped opening down and he was fighting to keep them open until they were out; a nagging feeling at the back of his processor caused him to glance back at KARR as he remembered the last thing he heard one of the lead techs say earlier during the night 'Start on KARR, the sooner we are done with him, the sooner we can get rid of him'...those words floated in his processor for what seemed like ages until the snapping sound of the door starting to close once more brought him back to reality...he was definitely going to regret this...


	5. Chapter 5

_**Well, here it is, final chapter of the last story from the trilogy's re-written version, I'd like to take a minute to thank those that have followed with this series up until this point, from those that just read through it to the ones that left a message or contacted me, you guys are the best.**_

 **Chapter five**

 **Farewell**

 **Well, here it is, final chapter of the last story from the trilogy's re-written version, I'd like to take a minute to thank those that have followed with this series up until this point, from those that**

"Meet up with Katherine and the others, pick them up and start your way back to base, don't stop to wait for me, I'll catch up further down the road" KITT locked his wheels and spun around in a perfectly executed 180 as he started to drive back, completely missing KIRA's protests, thankfully as he drove back he was glad to see her still driving off as the doors kept slowly closing.

In seconds he reached the room where they had been kept, he slid to a stop just around KARR and the two AIs stared at each other for a second before KITT brought up his grappling hook and shot it to the computer hooked up to KARR, reversing until it was pulled off of its place and managing to pull the cable hooked up to the AI out with it. The older AI closed his hood then and ever so slightly flashed his scanner at the midnight black Mustang; KITT instantly took off towards the exit after this and KARR started to follow closely behind, the two Mustangs were sprayed by bullets as the guards reached the large open space where they raced for the exit.

Halfway through the warehouse KITT realized with some horror that at this rate the doors would close completely just as he reached them, knowing he couldn't burst through the doors as they were he began to slow down, KARR shot past him then as he unfolded himself and fired two missiles at the doors, their mechanisms stopped and the robot used his momentum to push and break through the weak spot generated by the missiles to break through the door, transforming back to his Mustang form as soon as he was on the outside, picking up speed once more KITT angled his turbo boost to give him the necessary strength to break through the weaker lower spot of the doors, bursting through and instantly catching up with KARR.

Not even a minute of driving out of the place a whole pack of police and military vehicles drove around the corner in the direction of the warehouse, KITT guessed that his friends back at base had managed to get some knowledge of what had happened and they had prepared backup for when they managed to get away. As soon as he was out of range from the blocking shield around the warehouse he tried his communications, finding them working he went ahead and contacted base to inform them of their situation, omitting the one small detail that was the third AI following close behind him.

Minutes later the midnight black Mustang spotted a set of tail lights similar to his own some distance away, from his distance he could just make out three shapes inside the car so he guessed she had already picked up Mike, Matt and Katherine. As the two got closer to her of course the inevitable happened and sure enough he got a call not only from KIRA, but from her three passengers as well.

With a sigh the AI opened the chat line to see three confused faces inside the black and blue AI staring back at him, Mike was the first one to speak.

"I hope you have on hell of an explanation for this KITT…"

"Despite how this may sound after all that has happened the only explanation I can give to this is that I couldn't allow for him to be deactivated here, being stripped away from his programing piece by piece"

"KITT you do remember that WE have tried to deactivate him before right? We've fought against him multiple times now…he killed KIFT"

For a few seconds there was silence from the AI as this fact circled around his processor. He knew this and yet for some reason something in the back of his processor nagged him when he was driving off before going back for KARR even the two had tried to kill each other mere hours earlier "I know that Michael…I wish I could give you all a proper explanation but the truth is that I am not sure why I went back for him…all I can say is that he has agreed to return with us back to base peacefully on a set of simple conditions"

"Wait what? Do you seriously want to take him back to base with us KITT I-"

"Mike please…all I am asking from the four of you is to trust me, I believe that maybe we can reach an agreement with him and finally get this never ending rivalry over with. If not for me then do it for the greater good in the long run"

the four were silent after that and KITT took it for what it was, whether they were considering his words or simply just thought that more than one of his internal components had gotten loose during the fight; well, now came the hard part, trying to explain this same thing to Sarah and the others back at base…

Sarah paced back and forth in the middle of the room in front of the three platforms for the AIs, most of the techs had now drifted off to grab whatever equipment they could possibly need to make the repairs on the two cars when they arrived, Zoe watched her from her place on the main large desk in front of the main screen for a while before finally standing to grab the woman.

"Keep pacing like that any longer and you'll start leaving a path on the floor"

"I'm sorry…I'm just worried about them, I mean we already have medical on standby on the rear entrance but we haven't heard anything from them since KIRA contacted us nearly an hour ago"

"they're fine Sarah, don't worry. It's two of the most advanced AIs on the planet, what could possibly happen to them?"

before Sarah could answer her phone started ringing, almost jumping to the desk to answer it she was greeted by KITT's calm voice.

"Hello Sarah"

"KITT, thank god. We couldn't get a visual on you guys since you left the warehouse and we were starting to get worried, is everything okay?"

from Zoe's perspective she was able to physically see her friend's expression slowly change from relief to disbelief as she dropped several shades in color, concerned she took a step closer to her in time to barely hear KITT through the phone saying something about trust and change before he ended the call.

Taking a few seconds to slip out of her shock Sarah dropped the phone on the table and slumped down in one of the chairs.

"What happened? What did KITT tell you?"

"KITT's bringing KARR in with them…"

"Bringing him in? are they towing him here or…?"

"No, he's active and driving on his own and he's coming in here with them of his own accord" Sarah saw the confused expression on the tech's face so she decided to put it in the simplest, most straight forward way possible "He's not coming in as an enemy…"

Zoe took a step back as the words rolled around in her head "What exactly happened inside that warehouse…?"

The three AIs were now just under an hour away from base, ever since the call KITT had with the others and KIRA the ride had been awkwardly silent for him; he remained in his position in between KARR and the younger AI and he could feel through their link the slightest hints of discomfort, anger and maybe even the slightest touch of fear from her with the whole situation that had been going on for the entire drive back; he couldn't blame her for it after all that they had been through and even now he knew that she still hadn't fully recovered from losing KIFT, having KARR just a car length away was just aggravating the whole situation in that regard.

Once again he thought why he had done it, why go back to save him after all that the two had gone through and their basically life-long rivalry. He had done it out of impulse more than anything, he knew that if he had left him that not only would he have been deactivated for good but that they were most likely going to use the information from him for potentially dangerous ends, he couldn't let that happen but that couldn't have been the entire reason could it?

KARR had tried to and succeeded once in hurting his friends and family, he could never forget that fact but…maybe, just maybe, he could learn to forgive?

His twin had called him a 'sentimental fool' more than once in the past, he had said that in the end that would be his downfall…or maybe it wouldn't, after all that could be the very reason why he was here following behind him and not doomed to be deactivated back at that warehouse.

As they got closer to the base's perimeter KITT started to slow down, silently he told KIRA to go ahead and gat Katherine to the med team that was already on standby at the entrance, letting her get further away KITT continued to slow down until both him and KARR had stopped completely and of course that to this action the skeptical KARR immediately voiced his concern.

"why are we stopping?"

KITT turned around to face him, keeping half a car length in between them "I have told the others inside that you are coming, they are expecting you but I will be going ahead to let them know your conditions, do not come in until I tell you to" he started to turn back around to start driving again "and please, try not to hurt any of the people that might approach you inside the hangar before you enter"

KARR's scanner flashed in annoyance but he did not protest to KITT's instructions so the two resumed their approach on the base, by the time they arrived the med team had already taken Katherine inside and KIRA had entered, stopping on what had been KIFT's station to allow KITT to park on hers and KARR in his.

As soon as KIRA was inside she was greeted by a worried Sydney and a group of techs, she set herself and the group to fixing her damaged components that, judging by the fact that she had only sustained relatively minor dents and scratched, hadn't been too bad.

Just about five minutes later KITT drove in just as Mike walked into the room and headed for Sarah who, in turn, all but ignored him as she walked towards KITT with an unreadable face. Stopping directly in front of him with crossed arms as she looked directly at the ruby scanner as it tracked back and forth, the AI giving off the slightest hints of unease to those that knew how to read him.

The two continued eye contact for a few seemingly long seconds before Sarah sighed and uncrossed her arms in defeat "You can tell him to come in, I'll get the techs ready" she turned to the techs walking about "No one is to approach KARR unless you've been specifically assigned to work on him, at least until I can get some answers" the group nodded and went their separate ways to get things ready, Sarah walked past KITT just barely leaning down to whisper "I hope whatever reason you have behind this is not a mistake KITT"

Rather relieved that no one seemed to want to ask any more questions KITT finally slightly relaxed as techs ran over to him to inspect his bruised and damaged systems as he gave the remaining AI on the exterior entrance the all clear, opening both sets of doors to grant him entrance.

Upon seeing the dark figure through the glass panels on the decontamination section most of the people that had been walking around froze, knowing who was just now entering their base. A few seconds after he stopped on the one remaining platform, Sarah approached cautiously, speaking clearly and making it clear that she had full intentions of trying to trust him (after all, something had caused KITT to free him and KARR had willingly followed him here so things should go smoothly…right?)

"KARR…I know we might not be on the best of terms, all things considered, and we both know that if the circumstances were anything but these we wouldn't be having this conversation as we are" the amber scanner quickened its pace for a second before resuming its regular speed, displaying what could only be a hit of agreement. "I've talked with KITT, he has brought up your conditions to stay here and since he seems to be fine with them-" she eyed the midnight black Mustang that was now surrounded by techs "-I've decided to stick to them for the time being. We have the most talented technicians and a group of five has been designated to your repairs, they will be here shortly. all I ask of you is to cooperate with them since I've already given you my word that we will do nothing more than focus on repairs"

there was a moment of silence as the AI contemplated this new scenario, for the first time his self-preservation programing wasn't screaming at him to turn down the offer like it had happened before on a few other occasions, he couldn't tell why this was the case but knowing that this could be his last time receiving appropriate help for a while he would not waste the chance.

"I will agree to that, as long as nothing that does not need repairs gets tampered with, if I detect even the smallest change to any of my programs I'll-"

"like I said, KARR, we will do nothing of the sort, of that you can be sure…thank KITT for that one. If you cooperate with our tech we should be able to have everything that was damaged fixed for the most part in just a few days"

"And what happens after that then?"

"I don't know, really, it depends on how things go from here and a few other factors"

As the two continued to discuss the terms and conditions fully to avoid any possible loop holes, KITT was relieved that Sarah hadn't questioned him further and he made a note to thank her later for trusting him like she had considering he hadn't really given any proper explanation to anyone. As the technicians worked around his he glanced over at KIRA to his left, few people still walked around her fixing what had been damaged and he couldn't help but notice the pace at which her scanner was moving; guessing by that as well as the fact that she hadn't said a word to him since their escape he guessed that she was annoyed or even angry at him from bringing KARR over after all that he had done but to be honest…he couldn't blame her

He thought about trying to speak to her and explain before he stopped himself when he couldn't come up with enough arguments to counter all the questions and accusations that would be sure to come if he did manage to make some sort of conversation with her, a sigh escaped through his vents as the technicians around his started to access some of his more sensible systems to start on fixing some of the internal damage, noting this he quickly went into partial shutdown to allow the repairs to take place and hopefully come up with a way to get KIRA to not be too angry at him.

She had thought that Sarah would bring some sense into KITT for bringing KARR here, after all he had been the one responsible for KIFT's…death, and she had been her driver so surely she would feel just like her towards him being here; this was why when she had no opposition to it and even agreed to his terms she felt incredibly confused. As techs worked around her she shut off her link to KITT and kept to herself, a feeling of uneasiness still hanging on the back of her processor at his presence here.

It wasn't until a while later after Sarah had returned from the med bay and checking on Katherine that she approached her, noticing her darker demeanor she went over to her dismissing the techs for a bit as she dropped into the passenger's seat, closing the door and looking at her globe-like voice modulator

"Something's been bothering you ever since you returned, and I know it's not Katherine"

"What makes you think I'm not worried about her?"

"Oh I know you're worried about her, but I know she's not what's keeping your processor running…it's KARR isn't it?"

"For the most part. I can't comprehend why he would bring him over here and even then I thought that you would oppose to it, all things considered"

"After what he did I would've never imagined that he would someday be here willingly and in apparent good terms"

"And do you truly believe that he will remain that way?"

she was silent for a few seconds, taking a glance at KITT before answering, "People can change KIRA, for better or worse but they can change"

"but we're not people, we're AIs, computers"

"you're sentient beings, capable of complex thoughts and interactions that shape how you grow and develop. To the untrained eye that isn't that far off from us humans"

there was a moment of silence as she processed her words "It still doesn't change what he did…and it's not like I could forget it"

"I'm not asking you to forget what he did" she turned her look away from her voice modulator as her expression grew grim "something like that could never be forgotten…"

"Then why did you allow him to stay and offer to fix him? For all we know this could be some sort of trap"

"I won't deny that there is some truth to what you say, but KITT seems to be pretty sure about this and I trust him, you would do well in doing the same"

"you've spoken to him?"

"I have, that is also why in part I came to talk to you. KITT has been with us for quite some time, he's very experienced and has learned to deal with some things that I hope you don't have to go through but through that he's also grown as an AI far more than any of us could've imagined; he truly is special, as are you"

"why do you bring this up?"

"because when I asked him why he had gone back for KARR he said that after running around the thought in his processor he decided that just maybe he could learn to forgive"

"forgive? How could he forgive him after what he did to him? He nearly destroyed him more than once and he…he took KIFT from us"

"There's this saying, KIRA 'To err is human, to forgive divine' KARR's made plenty of mistakes in part due to his short experience and development when it comes to him as an AI. I can't make you do something you don't or can't do but at least I do hope you understand why KITT did it" after that Sarah climbed out and called the techs over to finish us the few things that still needed fixing before walking over to KARR where the team she had assigned for him was just arriving.

The group placed down the tools they had brought over and one of them walked over to the car's hood where the amber scanner tracked menacingly back and forth, it was quite unnerving to say the least for the tech that had been tasked with getting the hood open. Cautiously she approached him, he was in worst condition than KITT and KIRA where so that much she could tell; when the hood didn't click open after she got a hold of it she turned to look at Sarah some distance behind her.

Taking a step forwards the lead tech addressed the AI in front of her "KARR we're going to need you to pop open your hood if you want to get repaired. I told you before that we're not touching anything that doesn't need fixing, you can be sure of that"

The amber scanner tracked back and forth twice in an annoyed manner

"We need to see exactly what systems are damaged and for that we need to at least access your engine compartment, you don't cooperate we won't be able to fix you"

there was silence once more before the audible click of the hood release echoed in the room, causing the techs assigned to him to start working around him as one of them opened the hood and started to work there.

Even from her spot Sarah could distinguish multiple components and connections she recognized from KITT while a few other things she could only guess were part of what one would see on him when unfolded to his full stature. If KITT was right and things worked out well then things were about to take a very interesting turn for them, that was for sure.

Late into the night that same day the repairs on the AIs had been finished and most of the people had gone to their pods to get some well-deserved sleep, both KITT and KIRA had managed to slip into their recharge mode, next to them KARR remained awake, having trouble to slow down his processor in fear of letting his guard down.

In all honesty that was only half the reason why he couldn't bring himself to recharge, he still could not understand why KITT had gone back to save him with the risk of not making it out again (which to an extent had been exactly what had happened) even after he had been trying to get rid of him pretty much since that night in the desert he had saved him and granted him a place to stay and even help with his damaged systems…but why?

He glanced over to his left where both were recharging, scanners dark, he remained looking at him in a vain attempt to maybe get the answers he wanted just like that but of course he had no such luck. After some more time he managed to slow down his thoughts just enough to enter partial recharge, keeping some of his sensors and alarms on just in case. He probably wouldn't be able to get an answer from his twin about it anyway, even if he were awake.

Early the following morning Katherine got released from the med bay and started to make her way over to the main chamber to KIRA, half hopping until she got used to moving about in crutches. She froze at the entrance to the sight of KARR on the far end of the room, his scanner on a dim setting tracking back and forth at a very slow pace that gave away his state of partial recharge.

Not losing eye contact with him she went over to KIRA who gladly opened her driver's door for her, leaving her crutches resting against the near wall she hopped over to the Mustang, holding onto her door for support as she slumped inside.

"Glad to see you again Kate"

"It's good to be back, I missed you when I was being held back there"

"As did I, now please, next time you need to go on an errand be sure to go with me"

"well considering my normal car was wrecked I'd say that won't be too much of a problem"

there were a few seconds of silence between both before Katherine brought up the elephant in the room "So…KARR's hanging around for a while isn't he"

"More than likely"

"And I take it you're not too happy about it?"

"How could I not be considering all he's made us go through?"

Kate could sense the unease and anger in the AI's voice, as small as they were she could tell those emotions were there "I know it's hard, I didn't even understand it myself when he first told us about it on our way back but after really thinking about it I think I can understand, to some degree at least. Have you spoken to KITT?"

"No, not since we escaped"

"well if you really want to understand why I'd suggest asking him about it. If you're mad at him for bringing him here, maybe like that you can really get some answers and understand better why he did what he did"

"I do guess that is the only way"

"plus you can't hold it against him or stay angry forever" she opened the door then "I'll see you later KIRA"

For the next following few days things remained mostly calm around the base, having one of their main operatives in recovery meant that missions were slow to come or simply put on hold for the time being, during the evening Kate had gone out with KIRA on a joyride around the mountain, both hated being cramped up inside base and it provided a nice chance for both to spend some time together in the peace of not being on a mission. The younger AI had spoken to KITT a few nights back about the whole KARR situation and it had taken the midnight black Mustang a bit to fully explain to her his reasoning to hopefully get through to her; thankfully she got some degree of understanding afterwards just enough to accept the fact although that did not mean that she would be talking to him anytime soon.

The day after that KITT had opted to stay outside the base, out on the rear entrance and cargo area, taking in a little fresh mountain air. it was fresh day with a cloudy sky that signaled the approaching change from autumn to winter, the kind of weather he really liked to be in. He was about to let his light recharge slip on when he heard the sound of another engine behind him, causing him to become fully active in a second as KARR stopped next to him about half a car-length away.

There was a minute of relative awkward silence before KITT let out a sight through his vents before speaking "You are leaving...aren't you?"

"You know I cannot stay here, not after all that has happened"

"You don't have to leave; you just need time to allow everyone to get around the situation"

"That's what you say, yet most of the people are still afraid, on edge even when walking around the room"

"Maybe some of them, but again, that's nothing that time cannot fix"

another moment of silence

"KITT" slightly surprised to being referred to by his actual name KITT turned his full attention on the AI next to him "Before I leave, I need to know something…why did you come back?"

"What do you mean?"

"Back on that warehouse, you were half way out the building before you turned around and came back for me, why?"

"In all honesty I am not even completely sure why, I had heard earlier from the techs that once they had downloaded your system they would get rid of you, whatever way they intended to do that. As I was driving away I had those words replaying on my processor and without fully processing it I turned around and headed back. I guess you could say it's like that one saying 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'"

"Even after all that I caused you and your friends?"

"Some can learn to change KARR. Even though I could never forget what you did the last time we met…however after much thought I will say that I am willing to forgive"

"I still find it troubling, it doesn't seem logic for you to do what you did"

"Maybe not, but not everything we do is pushed by logic"

there was silence from KARR as he let the conversation he just had truly sink in "Thank you, KITT…for giving me a second chance"

half backing up and turning to see KARR he spoke again "Will we ever see each other again?"

"I cannot be sure of that…but I hope this is not the last time we meet"

"Goodbye KARR"

turning on his engine KARR started to drive off towards the exit, stopping right at the edge of the open area before the road "Goodbye…brother"

KITT remained where he was for a while longer before going back inside, stopping back on his station now that KARR had gone away, about an hour after that Kate and KIRA entered the main chamber where they were greeted by Sarah, who immediately turned to KITT after she saw the one missing Mustang.

"KITT where's KARR?"

"He left"

"What? What do you mean by 'he left'?!"

"I mean that he is no longer here, it was a decision he took on his own this morning"

"Are you serious KITT? We can't have him running lose around the country!"

"Sarah" the tech looked at the ruby scanner tracking with ease "May I speak with you in private?"

anxiously Sarah climbed inside the Mustang, people gathered around as the news spread and waited for a little while until Sarah got out, a much relaxed expression on her face "Guys, there's no reason to be alarmed, it's fine now"

Katherine instantly jumped at her from where she was leaning against a wall "and KARR?"

"I'm sure he'll be just fine" she looked down at KITT "we might see him again in the future anyways"

gaining surprised looks she dismissed everyone before more questions were fired a her, rather perplexed people started to go back to their work despite the questions in their heads, questions that would most likely remain unanswered. Unlike them KITT sat on his station truly relaxed for the first time in a while, doing a final check on his systems he paused a few extra seconds on his communications programs to look at the deep gold link that had previously remained dark since he could remember, slightly smiling to himself he closed most of his programs as he set the parameters for recharging; maybe, just maybe they would meet again…hopefully.


End file.
